Cutting It
by KlaineRock
Summary: "Before we belonged to anyone else, we were each other's."… It's been 28 years since the break up and suddenly, out of the blue, Blaine is back and it quickly becomes apparent that, this time, he's here to stay but 28 years is a long time and a lot of things have changed.
1. Chapter 1

_Hello!_

_This is a fanfic based on a TV show of the same name. I'm going to be changing the storyline a little bit though so those of you who know it don't already know the outcome. Kind of makes sense. I don't know anything about hairdressing so please forgive any mistakes, Im sure there will be many. Hope you enjoy. Please let me know what you think. _

_Thankyou xx_

* * *

**Pilot**

_Cheese_

_Skimmed Milk_

_Natural yogurt_

_Onken Bio. Strawberry_

_Crème fresh_

Kurt pushed the shopping trolley down isle 40 and found the items on his list. He ticked them off as he picked them from the shelves and placed them into the cart. He hated this. He didn't usually do the food shop on a Saturday but he'd been run off his feet all week and the fridge at home was running on empty so he hadn't had much choice. He'd gotten up at seven and drove to the closest 24 hour supermarket but hadn't expected it to take this long; he'd already been in the store for thirty minutes and he'd only been down three isles. He wondered briefly why they employed night staff when the shelves only ever seemed to be full during the day. He grabbed the attention of a lady wearing one the hideous green shirts that the store forced their workers to wear and asked her if she could help him find the Yakult. The woman smiled at him and politely led him down the next isle to where the yogurt drinks were shelved next to the butter and spreads. Kurt snorted at the bizarre layout and apologised to the woman because he hadn't even thought to look down here. She assured him it was no problem and asked if there was anything else he needed, he felt like giving her the list but he just smiled, told her that was all and thanked her for her help.

It was getting onto ten to nine when Kurt finally approached the checkout and began unloading the mountain of shopping. This is going to cost a fortune he thought to himself as he placed the family size box of Kellogg's Cornflakes down beside the Nestle Wheetos and the 48 box of Weetabix. He reached back into the cart for the Morning Oats but he couldn't find it. _Damn_, he must have forgotten to pick it up.

"I just need to grab something I'll be straight back" he told the checkout assistant but she ether didn't hear him or she just didn't care because she continue to scan his shopping without even glancing up. Kurt wondered how someone like that even got a job in the first place but then he thought of Ell and bit back his snarky comment. For all he knew the woman was having a really hard time outside of work and she didn't need disgruntled customers adding to her problems. He turned away and rushed back to the cereal aisle.

He was late for work and he'd promised Debbie he'd be on time; she'd wanted to speak to him yesterday but they'd both been been too busy so they'd agreed on having a private chat before open of business this morning. He had no idea what she wanted to speak to him about but he hoped Gavin would stand in for him. He couldn't believe he was going to be late yet again. He reached the aisle and hurried to the end. He knew the Morning Oats were definitely next to cornflakes because he'd seen them earlier. He spotted the box and reached for it just as his phone rang; he picked up the box and shuffled it under his arm so he could reach into his pocket. He pulled out his blackberry and looked at the name displayed on the screen. Gavin. He accepted the call hoping Gav wasn't going to be telling him bad news.

"Gav"

"where are ya?" Kurt could hear some tension in Gavin voice and it instantly made him worry. He used his left hand to grab the box of oats that were slipping from his under his right arm

"I'm at the store. What's wrong? What's happened?" He blurted as he hurried back to the checkout. He heard Gavin speaking to Debbie and someone else saying something he couldn't quite hear and then Gavin's voice came back to him.

"It's gone, Kurt." Kurt stopped dead

"You're joking" It was a statement not a question.

"I wish I was" He heard Gavin release an anguished breath and felt his own spirit sink. He hadn't been too happy to begin with what doing the shopping and all but now he was totally miserable. He just wanted to go home rather than face everybody and deal with their questions. He started walking again but he felt zombified. "Kurt?"

"What?" Kurt hadn't realised but he was on the verge of tears. His voice sounded husky and he felt like he had a water melon in his throat.

"It's gonna be alright. We'll find another one" Kurt swallowed and wiped his eyes with the back of his sleeve. Just in case.

"Yeah, I know." He tried to sound like he wasn't that bothered but he didn't even convince himself and he knew Gavin would see through it. He quickened his pace "I have to go anyway I'm at the checkout. I'll be there soon"

"Okay." Gavin ended the call and Kurt rushed toward the till. He rounded the corner too quickly and bumped into a shopper

"Sorry" He blurted a quick apology and flicked a quick glance at the man. He inhaled a breath as his met a pair of warm hazel eyes. Blaine Anderson, Kurt's first love, stood less than a foot away from him. He looked really well, he was dressed in a smart black business suit, his once wild hair was tamed although he clearly wasn't using as much product on it these days. He had a tub of peanut butter in his hands.

"it's Oka- Kurt?" Kurt felt the lines between time blur and the pain of an eighteen year old boy losing his first love seep into his chest.

_"It's not going to work" Blaine was sitting on Kurt's bed holding his guitar and twiddling the pick in his other hand. Kurt, who had been busy applying copious amounts of moisturiser onto his face, looked round at his boyfriend. Blaine looked a bit lost, Kurt knew exactly how he was feeling. The city had made him feel small and worthless for the first couple of months but now he loved it. There was always something to do and having Rachel as a flat mate meant there was never a dull moment. His heart swelled with love for the boy sitting on his bed._

_"That's because you're not strumming the strings" Kurt said with a smirk. He watched as Blaine looked up and met his eyes and then he felt it, the crack in his heart. Blaine was crying. He quickly jumped up, crawled onto the bed and scooted up to his boyfriend. He sat in front of him with his legs crossed just like Blaine and rested his hands on the younger boys knees rubbing light circles with his thumb. "Hey …baby, what's up?" Blaine placed the guitar beside him and placed his hands on top of Kurt's. Kurt was suddenly really worried; he tried to move his hands but Blaine grasped them and held on entwining their fingers together. He didn't say anything but fresh tears were forming in his beautiful hazel eyes, Kurt raised their hands and kissed the back of Blaine's hands. His chest was aching like it always did when Blaine was upset, he leant forward to kiss his boyfriend but his lips landed on Blaine's cheek. He pulled back feeling hurt and confused._

_"Kurt." Blaine choked out his name in a strangled sob. Kurt felt frustration brewing in his stomach. What the hell was going on? A minute ago Blaine had been singing Teenage Dream and now he was a blubbering wreck. _

_"What is it? what's wrong?" Kurt's voice was strained and his throat burned. He hated this feeling of helplessness but if Blaine didn't tell him what was upsetting him then he wouldn't be able to make it better. "Is it what I said earlier? Because I didn't mean it, it was a joke Blaine" He felt his boyfriend shift his weight and Kurt instantly enveloped him in a hug as more tears trickled down Blaine's cheek. "I love you Blaine….Only you" Kurt whispered as he released his hold and ran the back of his finger gently down the side of Blaine's beautiful face. He gently wiped away the tears with the back of his thumb and planted a kiss on the end of his nose. It made the younger boy release a puff of air as he smiled. Kurt felt a little bit of the tension that had worked its way into his body ease up at the sight of Blaines smile even if it had only been a flicker. _

_"I'm sorry" Kurt felt his heart melt. Blaine had no reason to be sorry, he should never had joked about loving Brandon McFay- one of the many friends Rachel had made in the short space of time they'd been here-but it had only been a joke and it had been Blaine that had instigated it. Kurt had probably taken it too far but Blaine had been laughing so he hadn't realised it had hurt him. Of course it had hurt him, you idiot. He scolded himself and made a mental note to kiss Blaine passionately the next time they were around Brandon._

_"No baby, I am." Kurt said as he wrapped his arms around Blaine and pulled him in for a second hug. He wanted to hold him like this forever. Minus the tears._

His throat burned now and he knew tears must have been swimming in his eyes "are you okay?" Kurt swallowed. He blinked. Blaine was still there. A million questions rolled around in his mind but what came out when he finally opened his mouth wasn't a question at all.

"I'm late for work" his voice sounded strained and he noticed Blaine's eyes narrow. _Don't bother being concerned for me now. Your about 30 years too late. _ He didn't bother to smile or continue the conversation. There was nothing to be said. It had been almost thirty years since he'd last seen Blaine and it hadn't exactly been a friendly parting. He didn't owe this man anything. He walked away and didn't look back even though he could feel Blaine's eyes burning a hole in the back of his head. Blaine was nothing to him. Kurt had a new life, a better one. He placed the Morning Oats onto the counter and continued to unload his shopping. He wondered briefly why Blaine was buying peanut butter when he'd always hated that stuff but then he reminded himself he didn't care. He finished unloading the cart and began bagging up the shopping. The cashier rang the total, it was almost two hundred and fifty dollars. Kurt paid in cash and left the store quickly. He had no intention of bumping into his ex-boyfriend. He loaded the bags into the boot of his car and drove home to put it away.

* * *

Forty minutes later Kurt parked his car in the city centre and displayed his monthly parking pass in the window before he opened the door and climbed out. The sky was dull and a light misty rain was falling so he pulled his umbrella out of the little storage box in the door and then he slammed it shut. He opened the brolly as he walked away, hearing the car lock automatically he hurried down the bustling side walk with his head down, the brief encounter with Blaine playing heavily on his mind. He wondered what the younger man was doing in New York. Did he live here now? He wondered where he worked and felt angry with himself for wondering at all.

_Blaine pulled away from his touch. It hurt and it was confusing. Kurt felt like an island drifting away from land. He tried to swim against the current but Blaine quickly grabbed his hands and brought them down to rest in between them both. Kurt sat with his hand entwined in his lovers feeling nothing but scared. "Blaine.." he tried to speak but his throat constricted and he felt tears fall onto his cheek. He was losing Blaine. This was it. He had spent many a sleepless night worrying about this and just when he'd finally managed to convince himself that it would never happen here he was. It was happening. _

_"Kurt.." Blaine released his hand and Kurt felt him tenderly stoke his cheeks. "I love you, you do know that right?" Kurt nodded against Blaine's touch. His emotions were all over the place. He was balancing on a thin sheet of ice in a choppy ocean surrounded by sharks and sooner or later he was going to fall. He knew the blow was coming but he didn't have time to prepare and even if he had there was nothing that could have saved him. There are no life rafts in the middle of the ocean. Kurt found himself wishing Rachel was home, she'd probably be able to throw a raft his way. She'd say something knowledgeable, probably a Streisand quote, and Blaine would realise he was being stupid. But she wasn't here and Kurt's mind was too bogged down to fish for quotes. _

_"B..Bl..Blaine please…don't do this. Don't do this" He could taste his salty tears as they trickled onto his lips. His body was shaking and his chest was heaving. He had never known a pain this intense._

_"Don't. Don't cry. Please Kurt." Blaine placed his hand around the back of his neck and pulled him in. They shared a kiss. Kurt knew what it was. It was different from all the others they had ever shared; it didn't have that promise attached it, only pain. This was goodbye. "I'm so sorry" Kurt heard his boyfriend whisper the apology and then there connection was broken._

_"No. No Blaine. Please. No. Don't do this. Please" Kurt grabbed fistfuls of Blaine shirt and begged and begged and begged and when he didn't hear Blaine take it all back he begged some more. "Please Blaine. Oh God, P..P..ple..please..Bl..Pl..I..Oh G…Bl…pleas…please..please..don..don't..bl" _

_"Kurt." He felt Blaine's arms wrap around him, felt him pull him close and kiss his head. He felt Blaine body racking with sobs and he heard his muffled cries into his shoulder. He didn't understand any of it. Why was Blaine doing this if it made him so upset? Who the fuck did he think he was ending their relationship without even discussing it first? This wasn't what they did. That was Finn and Rachel but it wasn't Kurt and Blaine. Kurt and Blaine were strong, steady. This wasn't happening. Kurt wouldn't allow it to. He pushed Blaine back forcefully and wiped his own eyes with the back of his sleeve. Blaine's cheeks were wet, his nose and eyes were red and Kurt could feel a wet patch on his shoulder but he stood up, brushed himself down and sat back down in front of the vanity mirror. His eyes were red and they stung and he was still struggling to breathe but he sat rigid, staring at himself and reminding himself to inhale…exhale..inhale..exhale. _

_When he could breathe on his own he turned around and looked at his boyfriend. Yes, his __boyfriend__, because this wasn't happening. Blaine was not going to fuck this up like everything else he touched. This wasn't a damn geography assignment. Blaine was staring at him, his eyes were full of pain so Kurt forced himself not to look. "Get r..ready." he controlled his sob "we're going out" he said to the younger boy._

_"No, Kurt. We're not…not anymore" Blaine's voice had been quiet, broken but his words were sharp and they cut into Kurt deeply. They weren't going out anymore. Blaine didn't want to his boyfriend. Kurt felt like a volcano. All his emotions bubbled to the surface and erupted. He picked up the bottle of lube that they'd left out from the night before and threw it at the mirror which smashed and shattered throwing splinters of glass all over him. _

_"Kurt!" Blaine jumped up and rushed over to his side but Kurt felt himself burning at his touch. He jumped up turning round grabbing the younger boy by his shirt "Don't fucking touch me! Don't. ever. Touch. me . again" he spat the first part into Blaines face but then he spoke slow and deliberately cruel and pushed Blaine back against the wall. Blaine had been the one to protect him from bullies like Karofsky but he was causing him more pain in that moment than anything ever had. He'd rather take a million slushes all at once than go through this; he'd rather stay in Ohio and live the rest of his life in that fucking dumpster than lose Blaine but no, he wasn't being given a choice and he was angry. He was so angry._

Kurt turned onto Newell Street and glanced at the store across the road that had previously been up for sale. Gavin was right; the sign had been removed in favour of a sold sign hanging above the large floor to ceiling windows that panned the full length of the shop front. Up until two months ago it had belonged to a firm of solicitors and the sign Redmond & Grey still hung on the brickwork above the window. He walked down the sidewalk until he came to the building directly opposite the old law firm and stepped inside.

* * *

Gavin had a client. He was busy blow drying the man's hair but when Kurt entered the Salon he looked up and grinned. Kurt returned the smile though he didn't feel so great. He heard the phone ringing and Debbie's chirpy voice "Hummel Farradays…Oh hello Mrs Jones…Err hold on a minute… riiight let's see..." Kurt greeted Mrs Lewis and walked over to Mercedes who was styling the hair of a new client. "Morning Kurt" She smiled at him and he greeted her and her client.

"Kurt!" He turned around to see Debbie holding her hand over the mouth piece, signalling with the phone for him to come over.

"Morning" Quinn breezed past him with a Max Factor collection of eye shadows in her hand.

"Morning" He greeted her and then he reached the reception desk

"Can you squeeze Nora in on Wednesday after 2? You're fully booked but she's only having a trim and she can't do any other day"

Kurt looked at appointment book. He _was_ fully booked and he knew Nora wouldn't just be having a cut. She was one of his their best customers but she could talk the ear off an elephant. Mercedes was on a day off, Adams schedule was chocker and Gavin was also fully booked. He could ask Ruby to come in and bribe her with the promise of time and half. "I'll get Ruby on it" he told Deb and then he slid the book back over to her and walked towards Quinn

"Yes…that's the one…yea she's called Ruby….Okay…I'll make sure she know's…Alright Nora…oh really?...no she never said.."

He reached the make up section and watched as Quinn did smoky blue eyes for Sharon Rogers, one of his own regulars. "Oh wow, I love it! What's the occasion Sharon?" He asked her client who smiled brightly and told him it was her husband's birthday "Say no more!" Kurt laughed and plugged his ears with his fingers. Quinn huffed and told Sharon to ignore him "are you gonna ignore me when I say it's on us?" asked Kurt with a smile. Quinn laughed and the client assured him that no, she bloody wasn't . He laughed and she thanked him "don't mention it" he said and then he walked over to Gavin.

"Hi" He greeted him and the client and then raised his brow as Gavin told the man "this is Kurt." Kurt smiled at the man who turned to look at him. He was very handsome; he had mousy blonde hair that had been styled and had blonde high lights running through. He smiled back, greeted Kurt and then turned back to the mirror.

"I love this!" Kurt said running his hand through the man's locks "did you do the colour?" he asked Gavin

"Adam mixed it" Gavin answered and Kurt nodded. Adam was the senior colourist so if he was available he always mixed the colours and applied the dye. Kurt scanned the salon looking for Adam but he couldn't see him. "Luke was just asking if you've ever thought of serving alcohol in here?" Gavin asked. The question took him by surprise. Kurt had never considered serving alcohol before but he didn't really like the idea of liquor being available to his staff. There'd be no stopping Kath from necking the Martinis.

"Oh good lord no" Kurt laughed "If we did that you'd have pink hair" The man laughed lightly and Kurt addressed Gavin as he slicked his hands with styling putty "Where's Ell?"

"No show" Kurt breathed a sigh of frustration. Ellie was the salons nail technician but she had a habit of only showing up when she felt like it. She'd been with them since they'd first opened and Kurt knew she'd been having some troubles at home so he'd been a bit lenient with her. Maybe too lenient he thought to himself.

"Again?" Gavin nodded and ran his hands through Luke's hair. Kurt patted his shoulder and walked across the shiny cream tilled floor into the back office.

* * *

He sat behind the desk and pulled out the paper work that had been piling up over the past few days. He usually caught up on his day's off or after closing but the process of extending the business had consumed all his free time. He sighed because it wasn't going to be happening. He'd put years into building this place and the time seemed right to expand. The shop across the road had been the perfect opportunity but it had been snapped up from under him. He should have thrown caution to the wind and put in the offer.

He pulled out the order forms and began filling it all the necessities

_Conditioner x 20_

_Shampoo x20_

_Hair spray x 30_

_Blaine slammed into the wall his face a picture of shock and then he fell apart in front of Kurt's eyes. Kurt's heart exploded as Blaine slid down the wall and curled in on himself sobbing so hard he was wheezing. "Bla..Blaine?" Kurt's voice was shaking; he couldn't believe what he'd just done. He stepped towards his- towards Blaine and fell to his knee instantly trying to console him._

_"I'm sorry I'm sorry…I didn't mean…Blaine…I…I...just…Blaine I'm sorry…please…I love you Blaine …I love you so much…" He rubbed small circles on Blaine's back but he stopped when Blaine looked up. There's eyes met. _

_"Then let me go" The ice cracked. Kurt fell into the ocean. The sharks moved in._

"Have you fucking seen this!?" A leaflet landed on the desk in front of him. Kurt looked up to see Ruby standing in front of him. Her long pink hair was bunched up, she wore far too much make up and a white coat with a pink vest top, tight black jeans and black heeled boots. He hadn't even heard her walk in.

"why're cryin'?" She asked. Kurt wiped his eyes quickly cursing himself for being so stupid. Blaine was a long time ago, he shouldn't be letting a stupid chance meeting affect him like this.

"I'm not." He replied and then he picked up the leaflet "what's this?"

"just read it. I swear to God you'll freak out. Oh, and Deb said something about me working Wednesday?" Kurt's mind through a blank, he looked up, brow furrowed and started at Ruby for a second trying to work out why Debbie would have said that.

Wednesday…full schedule... Blaine… Mrs Jones!…Ruby. _Ping_.

"Oh yea, we're fully booked and Nora wants her hair doing." Ruby made a frustrated growl and stamped her feet

"Why meeee?" She moaned. Kurt laughed and fumbled with the leaflet

"I'll pay you time and half"

"Urrrrgh. Fine." She slumped out of the office and Kurt looked at the paper he held in his hand.

_BLADE RUNNER_

_THE NEW SALON BAR_

_ OPENING IN THE CITY CENTRE_

_12 NEWALL STREET_

_LAUNCH PARTY MONDAY 4__TH__ JUNE_

_FREE DRINKS AND HALF PRICE CUTS ALL WEEK!_


	2. Chapter 2

_The weather was atrocious. It had been pouring down all night and now it was thundering and lightening. Kurt was tired as he drove quickly through the city centre traffic, he was two hours late for work and Gavin had left two angry voice messages because there'd been a mix up with the order forms and they hadn't received any hair care products. They did however have a whole bunch of tanning solution. Kurt felt tense; the muscles in his neck were stiff. He bit his lip and tried to prevent himself from crying. He seemed to be crying an awful lot lately. His life was falling apart; everything he touched was going wrong. He could hardly wash hair with a spray tan. _

_He slowed at the intersection but he only narrowly missed being hit by a tow truck speeding across. He rested his elbow on the door just below the window and chewed the skin off his thumb. He was beyond stressed. He reached the parking lot and pulled in. He parked up and leant across to open the glove compartment. He pulled out the monthly parking pass and looked at the date. It was expired by 28 years. Kurt gasped and swore. He reached into his pocket to receive his wallet but he couldn't find it. He must have left it at home. He placed the badge in the window hoping the parking attendant wouldn't be too observant and climbed out of the car. He reached for his umbrella but it wasn't there. "Fuck" he must have left it in the salon yesterday. It didn't matter really, the wind was ferocious and it would only have broken it. He pulled the collar of his coat up and shielding as much of his face as he could as he ran down the deserted streets towards Hummel Faradays._

_He turned onto Newell Street, his feet pounding on the pavement and froze. Across the road the sun was shining, the pavement was bustling with people and Blade Runner was heaving with clients cuing down the street. Kurt spotted Nora and Sharon amongst the crowd and then all of his regulars appeared and not just his regulars, everyone that had ever been a client of his was standing across the road laughing and chatting in the sweltering heat. _

_He fought on, pushing against the bitter wind on his side of the road and entered his own salon. He stood in shock looking around as hot tears hit his cheeks. The salon had been trashed. The chairs were strewn about, the sinks had been smashed and water was spurting from broken pipes. The mirrors had all been smashed and glass littered the floor. The tiles had been cracked and all the shelves ripped from the walls. He ran across the floor and into the back office. It was the same in here except all the paper work had also been shredded and scattered around. _

_"Gavin, Ruby!" He didn't know where anyone was and he was scared. He knew this feeling well. His pulse quickened as he scanned the building. He didn't find anyone but then he heard a loud cheer across the street. He ran out of the salon and crossed the road. It was so hot over here than his skin was blistering. He pushed his way into the salon and breathed in relief. They had air conditioning._

_ He looked around and gasped when he seen Mercedes styling hair, Quinn applying makeup, Adam mixing up hair dye, Kath sweeping the floors, Debbie on the phone and Ellie doing nail art. They were all smiling and humming along to the radio. Teenage dream played out across the store. Kurt's fist clenched, anger bubbling up. After everything he'd done for Mercedes this was how she thanked him; by abandoning ship and working for the opposition. He marched over to her._

_"What are you doing?"_

_"Working Kurt" she sang in a sing-song voice _

_"Yeah, we get paid more here" Kurt turned round to see Quinn and Adam smiling at him. They looked like they'd been brain washed _

_"Hello Blade runner…oh yeah it's so much better than Hummel Faradays.." Kurt heard Debbie chirp into the phone. It hurt. It hurt a lot but not as much as seeing Ruby breezing out of the kitchen carrying a tray of martinis _

_"Ruby!" He marched over to her and took the tray "I'll take that thank you- very-much. Get back over the road now" _

_"No." Kurt froze momentarily. He couldn't believe what he was hearing but then the sound of laugher caught his ears. He knew that laugh. He turned around and followed it into the back office. Gavin was sitting on the desk. His legs were crossed and he was crying not laughing. Kurt hated this. He didn't understand what was going on. He rushed across to Gavin and laid his hands on his knees rubbing small circles with his thumb._

_"Hey…baby, what's up?" _

"Kurt...Kurt...Babe…baby" Gavin's voice cut through the air and then Kurt felt something soft brush his cheek "wake up " Kurt opened his eyes slowly. It was dark and he was sweating. He could make just make out Gavin's face close to his and then he felt a kiss being planted on his nose. He scrunched up his face and pushed himself up. "Are you alright? You were talking again" He felt Gavin rubbing gentle circles on his back.

"Gavin?" He whispered quietly

"Yeah?" He could hear the sleep in the other man's voice and it made him feel warm and fuzzy.

"We can't compete." He heard Gavin huff and the next thing he knew strong arms were wrapping around his back holding him at the waist.

"Kurt." A kiss on his shoulder "you've got to stop this" Another kiss on his shoulder "we're not going to lose the salon" A kiss on his neck "and do you know why?" Kurt smiled. He did know why. At least he knew why Gavin thought so.

"Because everyone loves me?"

"Because everyone loves you" Gavin whispered and then he kissed him on the ear, Kurt shuddered "especially." Another kiss "me." A lick. Kurt groaned and Gavin manoeuvred himself until he was straddling him. Kurt wrapped his arms around his husband's torso as Gavin brought his hands up to Kurt's neck. They kissed and fell back into the memory foam mattress. It was passionate and fiery and brimming with promise.

* * *

The next morning Kurt woke at 7:30, brushed his teeth and trudged down the stairs. He walked into the lounge to find Nathan sat at the PC watching episodes of the annoying Orange. He walked across the room and stood behind him. "Morning Nate" Kurt said as he ruffled his twelve year old son's hair and kissed his head

"Hello, lazy bones." Nathan replied, his attention fully focused on the screen in front of him. Chillier was playing and Nathan laughed. It made Kurt smile.

"Have you had your breakfast?" Kurt asked him as he walked towards the kitchen

"Do you know the annoying orange?" Kurt turned to see Nathan still looking at the monitor. He heart ached a little but he smiled through it and forced a cheery voice

"Yea, and I know pear"

"Yes, pear." Kurt watched Nathan pulling at his shirt, rolling the bottom up around his fist and always watching the monitor. It almost made Kurt cry. "Do you know grapefruit?"

"Err no...I've never heard of grapefruit" Kurt had heard of grapefruit. Nate showed him almost every day but he yearned for some interaction with his son so he lied and walked back towards him.

"I will show you grapefruit." Kurt smiled as Nathan clicked on favourites and clicked on Grapefruits Revenge. The video started playing. Kurt had seen it a hundred times before but he watched Nathan laugh as though it was his first time. "I'm his sister moooooron" Nate copied "uuugh Janey" Kurt giggled and decided to push his luck.

"What does moron mean, Nate?" Nathan was quiet for a few seconds and Kurt held his breath wondering if this was a good thing or not.

"Do you know there's a new ipad, dad?" It wasn't. Kurt knew there was a new ipad because Nate had been talking about it for days and only yesterday he'd had Gavin drive him out to Gadgets and Stuff to look at them. He'd taken photos on Gavin's phone to show Kurt.

"Do you want it Nathan?"

"I'm getting one. You can buy it from Amazon" Kurt had to supress a laugh but he knew Nathan was being deadly serious.

"maybe If you're good today we'll get you one" Kurt knew that sentence wouldn't mean anything to Nate, all he'd hear is the we'll get you one but it had slipped out before he'd realised what he'd said.

"yes. Here. Look" Kurt watched as Nathan clicked open a previous tag and showed him the ipad available on Amazon. "You can get it from ebay or the shop but this is the cheapest" Kurt's heart melted. He couldn't believe Nathan had searched the net for offers.

"Daaad" Kurt turned his head to face his fourteen year old daughter,Chloe. She was dressed in skin tight purple jeans and a white t-shirt. Her long brown hair was still in the braid her sister had put it in last night and if the sickly sweet voice wasn't a clue enough she was flashing him a fifty kilowatt smile. Kurt pushed himself up and turned to face her because she deserved his full attention too.

"What are you after?" He asked her suspiciously. He couldn't think of anything she'd been asking for but maybe she'd mentioned something to Gavin that he'd forgotten to tell him about.

"Wellll, you how I love you an all-"

"Obviously"

"and I think you're the best dad-"

"Of-course"

"well pap said I could have forty dollars but I have to get it off you 'coz he didn't have it on him" Kurt bit his lip to stop the grin coming. The girls had been trying to perfect this system for years and they still hadn't managed to come up with anything more believable than the old 'pap said' routine.

"Is that the best you've got?" Kurt asked with a smirk he didn't mean to display. Chloe stared at him for a moment and played confused but then she huffed and her shoulders relaxed. She smiled and Kurt could see her beautiful cheeks blush.

"Actually I have one more but I don't think it will work" she said

"Don't knock it until you try it, kid" Kurt amused himself with how much like his dad he sounded these days.

"Alright granddad" Kurt raised his brow and Chlo giggled. it clearly hadn't gone unnoticed. "here we go…Dad-"

"Oh I like it much better already" Kurt interupted and Chloe glared at him.

"Let me finish"

"sorry"

"Dad can I please have forty dollars for these shoes that I've seen and totally have to have and before you say no I think you should consider that fact that Lucy and Kendal have been given the money and they're going to get them today and I promise I will tidy my room and I'll even let Nate watch that stupid film all day at nanas and I won't complain once?" Kurt watched his daughter bouncing on her feet like a toddler "Pleeeeease" He wanted to say no. He knew Gavin would have no problem refusing, he always said the kids needed to learn that money doesn't grow on trees but Kurt was different, he was soft, and the kids knew it.

"go get my wallet"

"Eh, what's she getting money for?" Kurt and Chloe both turned to see Ruby leaning on the door frame.

"She isn't" Kurt replied instantly

"new shoes" Chloe said at the same

"Oh right. So she just gets it handed to her and I have to work in the shitty salon?" Kurt watched his eldest daughter growing frustrated. She stormed into the room with her arms folded just beneath her chest. Chloe left the room and ran upstairs obviously getting the money whilst she could before things got ugly and Kurt changed his mind.

"Rube that's different" Kurt felt awful but Ruby was seventeen and he'd had enough of arguing with Gavin over her. She was old enough to do a couple of hours in the salon and it's not like Kurt didn't slip her the odd extra hundred dollars in her pay packet.

"Well yeah. I'm just the one you got bored of" That comment hurt. A lot. Kurt wasn't even sure what she meant by it but he had a feeling it was going to make him cry. Those kids could do that easily. Kurt steadied his breathing and reminded himself Nate was in the room.

"Do you want to talk about that?" he asked Ruby

"What's the point?" She had a shiny layer of tears forming in her eyes, she bit her lip. Kurt swallowed the lump that had settled in his throat. He wanted to reach out to her, to let her know she was loved just as much as the others but he knew she wouldn't be receptive right now and they'd end up arguing.

"Have you seen the annoying orange?" Nathan asked his sister. Kurt watched as Ruby quickly swiped her eyes and walked over to her brother. She knelt down beside him.

"Can I have a kiss boo?" She asked and Kurt's heart swelled with love for both of them as Nate turned and puckered his lips for his sisters to meet. He heard Ruby sniffle "now show me the orange you mooooron" she said blowing raspberries on his cheek. He giggled and the two of them sat together watching the monitor. Kurt got the distinct impression that Ruby wasn't really paying attention, she had just used Nate as a distraction and yeah, it hurt but he decided to let it go because that way could speak to Gavin about what she'd said and they'd talk to her together.

* * *

"Bye dad!" It had been a couple of hours since the mornings shenanigans and Chloe's friends were at the door.

"Wait up!" Kurt put down his the folded laundry and headed out into the hall. He liked to see his kids before they left the house to take a mental note of what they're wearing. It was something Gavin insisted on them doing since Danny, his brother, worked in the missing persons department of the police force. According to Danny Kurt and Gav wouldn't believe the amount of parents who can't describe what there kid was wearing when they last seen them . It makes the job harder and the chance of finding them within the 48 hour window considerably less likely and on that note Kurt would be damned if he didn't make that mental note. Chloe was still dressed in the same clothes she wore this morning but she now had some black boots on and a black coat. "Ok kid, you can go. Call every hour"

"Will do" she rolled her eyes and headed out the door. Kurt turned round just as Ruby shrugged on her white coat.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked her. He really wanted to speak to her about this morning even though he wasn't looking forward to it.

"Out." She answered simply and then she breezed past him and out of the house. Kurt barely had time to note that she wore a jeggings with a long brown jumper and black boots, her hair had been put into a messy braid and she'd been crying. He'd noticed that last one first but she clearly hadn't wanted to talk about it. Kurt felt so frustrated. Why did teenagers have to be so difficult? He was never this bad, was he? He walked past the lounge checking on Nate who was still sat at the PC watching the annoying orange and got back to folding the laundry.

He sat on the kitchen chair and sorted the clothes into piles. He usually liked this task because it gave him time to himself, time to think and sort through his thoughts but today he wasn't enjoying it at all. It had been almost three weeks since the shop across the road had been snapped up and tomorrow was supposed to be the launch party of a rival salon opening directly across the street from his. He was scared and completely unsure of how to handle the pressure. His staff wanted to know their jobs were safe but Kurt couldn't shake the fear that once Blade Runners opened he wouldn't be able to afford to pay the overheads. He felt completely lost and alone even though Gavin co-owned the business he didn't seem as invested, he just kept saying everything would be alright. Kurt didn't believe him; not one little bit. He felt tears prickle his eyes and threw Chloe's pyjama top back into the basket.

"Nate!" He called as he jumped up. He needed to get out of here. He needed to spent at least a couple of hours in his salon whilst it was still standing.

"What?" Nathan was looking at him when he entered the room which made Kurt grin

"We've got to go out" he told him

"But its Sunday" Nathan answered as though he was stupid

"Yes I know but this Sunday we have to go out, Kid"

"I'm not kid I'm Nathan " Kurt laughed

"stop laughing at me" Nathan sounded hurt and Kurt immediately stopped. _Great, another child hurt. _

"I'm sorry. Listen, we're going to go the salon. You like it there, remember?" Kurt tried to keep his voice calm but not too calm or Nate would say he was treating him like a baby.

"I can go on the PC and watch annoying orange in the office" it wasn't a question but answered him anyway

"Of-course you can" he said happily and then he went and fetched his coat

"I can do it myself"

"Okay" Kurt stood back and watched his son put his coat and shoes on. His heart ached a little and he found himself wondering what the future had in store for Nate. It was a scary thought, one that kept him up at night and made him drink far too much caffeine.

* * *

As soon as they entered the salon Nathan took his coat off and threw it over one of the chairs on his way to the office. "I can't get in, dad" He called "I need your numbers"

"2310" Kurt called across the salon and then Nate disappeared into the office and Kurt was left alone with the numbers dancing on his mind. He swallowed and decided he'd change that in the morning. He looked around at the immaculateness of his salon and remembered all the hurdles he and Gavin had jumped to get to this stage. It had been hard work and Mercedes, Quinn and Ell and had been their only employees at first. They had worked for next to nothing and Kurt and Gav hadn't even taken a wage for the first seven months and yet for the past ten years it had been thriving.

Kurt admired the mirrors all custom made to suit his specific design. This place was his. Everything in it had been carefully selected right down to the towels. Nothing had been left to chance. This salon was his forth child and Kurt figured it must be feeling kind of like Ruby right now or at least how he imagined Rube to be feeling. Stuck on the border of major change. Kurt sat down behind the reception desk and listened to the silence. It engulfed him.

_"speech! speech!" Quinn shouted and chants erupted around the makeshift table. It was the night before their big launch and Burt, Carol, Finn and Rachel had flown over with Amy and Dillon and Gavin's parents and his brother were also there with their three kids. The kids were busy running around playing games and the adults we're sipping bubbly_

_"No, no, no" Kurt told everyone but then he felt Gavin shift beside him and a two year old Nathan was passed into his arms as Gav stood up._

_"I never thought all this would be possible but look around Kurt, you did this. You made this happen. Your an incredible man and everyday I love you that little bit more. You and the kids." Kurt blushed at husbands words. he felt giddy on love and excitement. "i want to thank Burt and Carol for your help with the grant and mum and dad for all your support" everyone clapped and Kurt watched his dad turned bright redd "I also want to thank Quinn, Cedes and Ell for trusting us and embarking on this crazy scheme! Thank you but most of all thank __you__ Kurt" Everyone cheered and the kids used it as an excuse to increase the noise level. _

_"To Hummel Farradays!" Yelled Rachel and everyone repeated it and drank the campaign that Sue, Gav's mum, had brought._

Kurt stood up and walked to the window. He looked out across the street and wondered what kind of celebrations the new owners were doing right now. He could see a light seeping through a door to the back of the salon but everything else was dark just like his business' future. He sat down, buried his head in his hands and cried.

* * *

Across the road a man with hazel eyes crept away from the celebrations and stepped into the salon. He needed to escape the chaos that Luke loved to create and take a breather. As soon as he stepped out of the back he seen him. Kurt was sitting in his salon, the light illuminating the whole place making it easy to see that he was crying. Blaine felt his heart strings tug, he sank into a chair and painfully watched as Kurt broke down.


	3. Chapter 3

_"There is nothing more important in life than love." Blaine didn't look up when he heard Rachel's voice in the doorway. He was too busy focusing on the sounds coming from the bathroom. _

_Retching. _

_Vomiting. _

_Crying._

_He could feel his heart breaking and it wasn't one of those hairline fractures that would heal with time. It was a comminuted fracture; his heart was broken and crushed into so many pieces that it was unfixable. It would never quite beat to the same rhythm again and he knew that. He'd always known that, but the knowledge had somehow failed to prepare him for the intensity of the crushing pain in his chest. This is what it must feel like when your heart is dying he thought to himself as he heard Kurt retch again. As stupid as it sounds now he really hadn't meant to hurt him, he hadn't wanted him to cry but, then again, Kurt wasn't crying; he was falling to pieces, dying from the inside out and every fibre of Blaine's being longed to take it all back. He couldn't do that though, he wouldn't; he loved Kurt too much to burden him. They say if you love somebody you should set them free and Blaine did love the boy in the bathroom. He loved him so much that since he'd moved to New York Blaine had been grieving his loss and yeah, he knew Kurt was only a phone call away but lately their phone calls had been strained. The once comfortable silences had been awkward and Blaine had known there was something else on Kurt's mind, something else he'd rather be doing than holding the phone to ear and hearing Blaine talk about school, a school that Kurt couldn't wait to be rid of. It was just another example of how he was holding Kurt back. _

_"Blaine" Rachel's voice grew closer but he didn't avert his gaze from a shard of glass that lay on the floor. If he squinted it looked like a dagger. Blaine wished he could take back those words that he'd stabbed Kurt with. Surely he could have thought of a better way to do this; a less painful way. "Blaine?" He felt Rachel's legs brush against him and looked up. She was sitting on the floor, slightly to his left, facing him. She looked like-well she looked like Rachel and her voice was gentle but her eyes gave her away. She was frightened and it made Blaine hate himself that little bit more. Not only had he murdered his relationship with Kurt he'd ruined his friendship with Rachel and probably Finn and maybe even all of the New Directions. Why hadn't he thought of that before? Oh yeah. Because none of that mattered, only Kurt and he had no idea how much he mattered to Blaine. Blaine attempted to swallow the boulder that had wedged itself in his throat but he got caught in a coughing fit, he felt Rachel hitting him on the back but by the time he'd stopped tears were swimming in his eyes. He'd never get to tell Kurt how much he meant to him because Kurt wouldn't want to hear it and even if he did telling him wouldn't be fair. It would only cause more pain. "I'll be right back" Rachel said but for all he cared she could disappear. He didn't want her to comfort him, she should be comforting Kurt. He was the victim in all this. Rachel returned carrying a glass of water. She passed it to him but Blaine couldn't seem to get a grip, his hands only wanted Kurt, she helped him bring the glass to his mouth "here. drink" he took a sip. _

_"Kurt" His voice was husky and his throat itched but his name rolled off his tongue as easily as it always had. He loved that name, he'd always found it cute and it fitted the wearer perfectly. He wanted Kurt, he wanted him so badly. She didn't answer him for a long time; the crushing silence weighed a ton. _

_"Blaine…" when she finally did speak her voice was gentle and full of concern "what have you done?" _

What indeed. Sitting there now, watching his first love cry, made Blaine question every decision he'd ever made. Just in seeing Kurt, Blaine felt his heart throb and pulse to a beat he had long forgotten. Maybe he was being selfish in coming out here; the last thing he wanted to do was cause the man grief and it was clear, from their brief encounter in the store, that Kurt was still hurt over the breakup but something about Kurt Elizabeth Hummel had been dancing on Blaine's mind for years –well, more like scratching and clawing at the edge of his every thought than dancing- Blaine couldn't take it anymore. He needed to know, before he married Luke, that Kurt was happy; that the decision he'd made twenty eight years ago had been the right one. _Blimey, has it really been that long?_ Blaine could remember things about the man across the road that time should have washed away by now. Things like way his eye's sparkled in the spot light and how they danced when he laughed, the sound of his laughter and how it rose and fell like a melody. He didn't have to think hard, or much at all, to hear Kurt's voice broken and desperate begging Blaine not to leave him. It had stayed with him through the years, a track constantly playing on repeat and it had worn him down.

_"I..I…" Blaine couldn't speak the words, they sounded too horrible even in his head. How do you say I ended it without sounding like a prick? Those words weren't elasticated enough to mould around the raw emotion of the act of ending 'it'. He felt his control slipping away and before he had time to fully register what was happening Rachel's arm were blanketing him _

_"shhhsh come on..it's okay..shhhhsh" Blaine felt angry at her attempt to cushion his fall. It wasn't okay, what he had done to Kurt was not okay. He should never have come out here but he hadn't wanted to do it over the phone and seeing him yesterday for the first time in almost three months had made it so hard. Blaine had been unintentionally selfish, he made love with Kurt knowing full well that he wasn't going to nurture it but he'd wanted one last time. He wondered if Kurt would have wanted that too had he known this was coming. Probably not. He sniffled and pushed her away. She sat looking at him unsure of what to do next, Blaine wiped his eyes and stared blankly at the wall._

_"I've left him.. I told him…I...he hates me" tears spilled from him eyes, his chest heaved. It was out there now, he'd said it to someone other than Kurt and suddenly the break up was real. It hurt. It hurt so badly he wanted to punch something._

_"Oh Blaine…come here" He was completely taken by surprise by soft lips landing on his check and her arms wrapping around him. This time he didn't fight it though, he'd already been up against the devil and he had lost. Kurt wanted to be in New York, Blaine could see how much he loved the city, and this wasn't going to be a study thing. New York, for Kurt, was going to be home forever and Blaine had to let him go because he hated it here. New York was a concrete jungle, there were no nutrients in the soil, and Blaine's dreams wouldn't grow here. "I know it's hard…I know…but Blaine, you've done the right thing. Trust me " _

"Oh there you are" Blaine was pulled back to the present by Luke's voice from the doorway. Guilt crashed into him and sent him reeling backwards, he stood up quickly facing his fiancé. Luke was incredibly good looking and charming and completely oblivious of the way the fire in Blaine's heart extinguished as soon as he'd looked at him.

"Here I am" Blaine said with a smile he wasn't feeling

"Come here. Tina's having a kitten over you missing her speech" Luke strode closer to him and reached out to take his hand. Blaine took it and allowed his fiancé to lead him back to the celebrations. "Oh. Don't worry, by the way, you didn't miss anything worth hearing." Blaine didn't hear the sarcastic comment Luke made about his best friend because he'd made the mistake of glancing back and in that glance he had seen something that literally made the foundations of his world quake. Kurt was wearing a wedding band._ Maybe it isn't a __wedding__ band, maybe it's just a ring_. He wondered if he'd seen it before, back in the supermarket, but he didn't think he had and he would have remember something like that. His old friend Bouldermault settled back in his throat. Blaine didn't even try to get rid of him, he couldn't with Luke around so boulder may as well get comfortable, he was going to be staying there for a while longer yet.

* * *

Kurt ignored the sound of his phone ringing. It would only be Gavin wondering where he was and he didn't feel like speaking right now. He needed to be alone with his thoughts and the remnants of a business he had nurtured from birth. He was relieved with his ring tone died down but then he felt guilty and concerned. What if it had been one of the girls?

"Dad is upset" Kurt was up in an instant when he heard Nate speaking into the phone. His stomach flipped.

"Nate, who is it? Give me the phone" He asked reaching him in a second. Nate gave him the phone and Kurt brought it to his ear, wiping his eyes as he spoke.

"Hello?" He watched Nathan who was looking around and fidgeting with the bottom of his t shirt again. Kurt hated it when he did that but it was his twitch and according to the specialist it was perfectly normal behaviour for children with his condition.

"What's wrong? What was Nate doing answering your phone?" Kurt relaxed when he heard Gavin on the other end of the line

"I didn't realize he had it" He answered hoping Gav wouldn't hear the evidence of his breakdown in his voice

"Right, well...that doesn't answer my other question" Kurt watch Nathan sit down in front of one of the mirrors and look up at him

"Dad I want to go home now"

"I'm fine." Kurt answered his husband

"Kurt." Gavin clearly didn't believe him and why would he? Nathan had told him that he was upset and Gav knew Nate wouldn't be lying.

"I want to pap-pa-pa-pa-pa" Nathan kept repeating the 'pa' as he kicked his feet out and rocked himself forward

"One minute, Nate. I'm just –"

"Where are you?" Gavin interrupted him, he'd obviously heard Nathan's chant.

"At the salon but don't worry, I'm bringing him home now"

"Stay there. I'm coming." Protest had been on the tip of Kurt's tongue but his husband ended the call before he'd had the chance to spill it. Kurt released a shaky breath and steadied his emotions. He loved his business but it didn't compare to the love he had for his son, being upset in front of Nathan wasn't an option. It would never be an option.

"Papa's coming" He said to his son "come sit with me and we'll wait for papa." Kurt took a seat on the sofa and Nate followed him. He wrapped his arm around his son and Nate rested his head on Kurt's shoulder. Kurt kissed his head and closed his eyes to stifle the tears that were queuing behind his lashes.

* * *

Gavin arrived at the Salon fifteen minutes later carrying two bin bags, Nathan immediately jumped up and ran at him. Kurt grinned at the sight of Gavin, _his_ Gavin as he dropped the bags and roared like a lion when he hugged their son. Nathan's laughter bounced around the salon and Kurt caught it. He wished he could store it in a jar to listen to on those restless nights but he couldn't and the laughter escaped far too quickly. He seen Gav look up at him and flick a half smile, a ghost of a smile, in his direction. "Let's go hug dad, aye Nate?" Nathan nodded and ran over to Kurt. Kurt enveloped him in his arms and swayed gently kissing the top of his head.

"I love you" Kurt whispered. Nate didn't reply. It didn't hurt. Much. Kurt was used to it. After a second Nate pushed away and disappeared into the back office

"I'm going to watch annoying orange. Are you coming papa?" _ouch. _Kurt had always been a little jealous of Gavin's relationship with their son, Nate seemed more more comfortable around him and Kurt tried every trick in the book to change that. He'd even roared like a lion but Nathan had looked at him like he was crazy and the girls had burst into cruel laughter.

"In a minute Nate." Gav responded and then he gave Kurt his full attention. Kurt could feel his husbands eyes stripping back the layers and getting straight to the root of the problem. He stepped forward and placed his hands gently on Kurts cheeks. "Oh babe" he lent forward and kissed him a couple of times. Then he wrapped his arms around Kurt's waist. Kurt's arms came to rest around Gavin's shoulders, his hands joined behind his head. "you have to stop worrying. I won't let you fall" Kurt relaxed into the kiss that followed. It felt like a safety net and he would have been a fool to let it go.

"Ehem" Kurt cleared his throat as their lips parted and Gavin leaned away looking at him

"Ehem?"

"Are you going to tell me why you brought trash into our salon?" He asked playfully. Gavin seemed to consider his answer, looking at him intensely and then in one swift movement in kissed him on the nose "do you remember when Cedes turned 40?" Kurt's eyes widened because he did remember. They had had a sleepover, just like the old days, and it had taken place in the salon. Gavin grinned.

"Oh my- in here? Tonight?" Kurt couldn't believe Gavin was being serious. They had Nathan and the girls were due home at some point. They couldn't stay here all night.

"In here. Tonight. And don't worry about the kid's I have it sorted." Kurt grinned. He had the best husband in the world. He pulled him in for a long slow kiss. It tasted like relief and security. It tasted like Gavin.

"Hello Guys!" Kurt pulled away and turned to see Quinn, Kevin and their four kids bustling in making a load of racket.

"Hey!" Gavin instantly replied and left to greet them. He hugged Quinn tightly and kissed her on the cheek, he did the same with Kevin, Lydia and Aaron but when he reached Kian he high fived the thirteen year old and scooped seven year old Caden into his arms. He pretended Caden had gotten too heavy to lift at first and made a dance and drama of picking him up. Quinn laughed and Kevin snaked his arm around his wife grinning at the sound of her laughter. Kurt stood in shock until Gavin turned to him "Quinnie and the gang are joining us, is that okay?" Kurt grinned widely. It was more than Okay. He joined his husband and greeted them all. Ruby and Chloe arrived about ten minutes later with Mercedes and her daughter Faith and not long after that Ell came with her partner Johnathan and her children Michael and Harmony.

"Surprise" Kevin smiled

"The best" Kurt murmered just as he kissed his husband and Quinn started a cheer.

* * *

"speech speech!" Quinn yelled and the adults and older kids joined in. They were all sprawled on the duvets and blankets that they'd laid out on the floor in the far corner.

"No no no" Kurt told them to pipe down. He was filled with so much gratitude. He hadn't realized how important this place was to anyone else. Gavin sat beside him, his left hand in Kurt's and his right wrapped around Nathan whose head was resting on his shoulder. When no one made any motion to speak Quinn huffed and stood up,

"sit down mum" Lydia hissed as everyone quietened down.

"Kurt. We know your worried about the 'competition' but we all want you to know that we're up for the fight. This salon isn't going down baby!" Cedes cheered "We're going to pull together and get through this. We all love you and we all love this place and we're gonna blow that Blade Runner into the ground!" All the adults cheered and Kurt felt a tear rolling down his face.

"To Hummel Faradays!" Toasted Cedes and everyone joined in and drank the champagne that Gav had brought. Kurts heart expanded with every beat. He loved everyone in that room, they were a slightly erratic and sometimes annoying but they were always there for each other rather like an elastic band; they stretched each other to the limit and slacked off when they could but they always sprang back and kick started each other into action when it was needed.

Once the toast was over and loud chatter had taken over the once silent salon Kurt heard Gavin whisper something to Nathan. He didn't catch what it was but a moment later Nate climbed over his pap and gave Kurt a big hug

"I love you dad" he said loudly. Kurt felt so happy his heart could have burst.

"I love you too" he replied with a grin, he kissed his sons head and blew a kiss to Gavin.

* * *

A couple of hours later, feeling a million times more optimist than he had a couple of hours ago Kurt lay down and snuggled into his husbands arms. Tomorrow was going to be a rough day and they'd have to get up early to set up but for the first time since he'd read that leaflet he felt okay. He felt optimistic and almost certain that everything was going to be okay.

_**a/n- I'm thinking of not making Kurt have an affair because my husband did that it to me and I dont think Kurt would ever do that does anyone agree or would he do it for Blaine? hmmm very tough decisions will need to be made...**_

_**oh and not long to go now til the season starts..eeeeek! **_


	4. Chapter 4

**_ Thank-you to Becca, RazorGirl, TheFutureMrKarofsky, ana, AlpaEmrys, anderpson and the lovely guests for your reviews. I love reading them and they really do make me smile :) You're rather divided on the whole affair vs no affair (though I know which side of the fence I'm leaning to) it's all a little way off yet but I'm loving your ideas and I do listen to what you're saying so SPEAK UP! ..please._**

**_Now for chapter 4 (im not sure if those divider lines are working) ..._**

_Kurt woke up to the sound of a piano, the melody sounded familiar but he couldn't quite place it. He slowly sat up. His neck hurt and his back ached from lying on the uncomfortable sofa for so long. He must have been exhausted to have fallen asleep on the rock. He wondered what time it was, he looked up to see greying clouds in a bruised sky and figured it must be after six. He instantly panicked because he'd missed Glee practice and the Warblers had a strict attendance policy- three misses and you're out. Kurt pushed himself up. The grass beneath his feet was spongy and water seeped up as though he'd slept through a rain storm. His clothes were dry though so he didn't think too much of it. Thinking causes headaches. He rushed across the field of roses, yellow and red, and threw open the door. If he ran he might just catch the back end of practice._

_He stepped out and felt the air whoosh out of his lungs as he fell. He reached out, grabbing hold of the banister and pulling himself up. He kept hold of the rail and ran down the winding staircase. Round and round and round. The steps seemed never ending and time was running out. He looked up and through the glass domed ceiling he could see the threat of thunder lurking behind the clouds, the sound of piano grew louder. Kurt stepped down a couple more steps but his footing was slow and cautious. He had no idea where he was but people were rushing past him. His heart raced in that uncomfortable way it does when you find yourself lost. He felt like a small speck, invisible to the naked eye. He tried to ask someone for directions but she ignored him, fear and frustration caught up to him. He was never going to find his way out of here. He was never going to see his dad again. His throat dried up and his chest ached. He finally reached the bottom of the stairs but stopped abruptly and just in time. They didn't lead anywhere but into a vast pit of blackness. His heart jumped into his throat, he backed up and ran back up the stairs. There were only six steps and then he reached the top. The stairs led directly to a corridor, the sound of the piano grew louder still and Kurt followed it. All the doors he passed were made of candy wrappers, he felt a chill shoot down his spine, he didn't like this place at all. He reached the door at the end and opened it._

_He stepped out into New York City and instantly relaxed. He was home. The sound of the piano led Kurt to cross the road. He almost got hit by a yellow cab but he didn't really care. Part of him wanted to get hit. He felt so empty and completely alone. His life had become nothing but a daze, he was incapable of feeling emotions anymore. He was drained and done; done with life and done with love. He had never felt so low. He didn't know what he was doing here, in New York; he wanted to go back to Lima. He wanted to crawl into his bed back home and die but Rachel kept telling him to smile. She was linking him now, keeping him alive._

_"Things will get better, Kurt. You'll see."_

_"Where's the music coming from?" Kurt asked but she didn't answer and when he turned around she was gone. He was standing on the corner of Newell Street completely alone. He didn't know how he got here but he knew he wanted Blaine. He wanted him so badly that the wanting had turned into an endless aching need. Tears streamed down his face until the sound of an angel singing made his breath catch in his throat._

_It's been a long time since I came around_

_Been a long time but I'm back in Town,_

_This time I'm not leavin' without you_

_Kurt followed the sound of the piano and the voice down the street until he came to number 12. He heart throbbed painfully. He could see Blaine playing the piano. He was singing to him through the glass._

_You taste like whiskey when you kiss me, ooh_

_I'll give anything again to be your baby doll_

_This time I'm not leavin' without you_

_Kurt felt his knee's weakening. Blaine was so beautiful and he played the piano like a pro. Kurt tried to open the door but it was locked "No no no" He heard the piano stop and he hammered on the glass as Blaine jumped up and ran over to the window. Kurt watched as Blaine tried to get to him but he couldn't. The glass was too thick. It wouldn't smash; their desperate attempts got them nowhere. Kurt kicked the glass and punched it until his knuckles bled but it got him no closer to Blaine._

_"BLAINE!" Kurt could taste his own salty tears, his chest constricting and his breathing coming in short raspy bursts. Blaine was crying and trying desperately to break through the barrier; it hurt Kurt like a knife to the heart. "Bl..Blaine s..st..stop. stop" Kurt fell into the glass, his hand pushing against it and his head down. He couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't stand to see Blaine hurting and the pain in his chest was far too intense. Everything about the situation felt wrong, if Blaine continued Kurt was sure his heart would explode._

_Tears trickled from his face, his could see them landing on his black leather shoes, he stood like that for a long time until his airways cleared and he could breathe again. He looked up. Blaine's hand was pushed against his, separated by a pane of glass, it was as close to physical contact as they were going to get. That thought ripped through Kurt's chest like a grenade. He needed to feel Blaine's touch. "Blaine" there was so much he wanted to say but they couldn't hear each other through the glass. _

_Kurt watched as Blaine mouthed those three little words, words that held so much power they could make or break a person in a heartbeat. They made Kurt. They completed him. He felt all his emotions like loose ends tying together. He had questions but they could wait; for the moment he just wanted to feel this and he wanted Blaine to feel it too._

_he mouthed them back and then he watched as a single tear drop fell from hazel eyes. Blaine stepped back "No. No. Blaine please...don't." Kurt was sobbing. He attempted to grasp the glass but inevitably failed. Blaine turned around, he was going to walk right out of Kurt's life. "Blaine! Don't do this. Please."_

"Kurt!" Kurt opened his eyes to Mercedes' whisper. He was sweating and Gavin's arms had released him at some point during the night. He shuffled a little "you 'kay?" It took a few moments to get his barings and figure out why they were lying on a duvet in the salon. He pushed himself up.

"mm. time's it?" He asked Cedes. He could see his friend sitting up, the light from the lamp outside casting a yellow glow over her. Ruby was asleep, she was cuddled up next to Alex and Chloe was lying beside Faith; the torch app on her mobile still glowing. Nathan was in Gavin's arms wrapped up like a baby. Kurt felt something odd in his stomach; something that felt a lot like jealousy. He quickly told himself to grow up.

_"_5:30." Kurt forced himself to look away from Gavin and instead focussed his attention on Mercedes. He yawned and breathed loudly. He wasn't going to be able to get back to sleep now, not after that damn dream. He'd been dreaming about Blaine quite a lot lately, the man seemed to be permanently stuck in his subconscious since that meeting at the store and it was driving Kurt crazy.

"D'ya want coffee?" He asked pushing himself up carefully.

"sure." Cedes also stood and followed him into the kitchen.

* * *

"Just tell me Kurt" Mercedes stood leaning on the side, eye balling him for not sharing the details of his dream. Apparently she had heard him muttering Blaine's name, he'd put on his best poker face and told her she must have been dreaming herself.

"I wasn't dreaming of Blaine. I didn't even remember his name until you just said it" Kurt lied. He didn't want to be having this discussion. It was stupid and immature. They weren't high schoolers anymore, he didn't have to share every detail of his life with her and, besides, it was just a stupid dream.

"Kurt."

"What?"

"You were the one that said it." He felt himself deflate. Mercedes was rubbing up him the wrong way. He put his cup down and released a frustrated huff.

"Oh for crying out loud, my husband is sleeping just out there." He hissed

"Exactly." She sipped her drink

"Right." He calmed down and took a drink himself.

"So why were you dreaming of Blaine?"

"I wasn-"

"Keep it fucking down" Quinn was stood in the doorway. Her hair was all over the place and without any makeup on she looked like a zombie. Kurt felt bad for having woken her, he thought they'd been quiet but maybe not. His mind quickly jumped to Gavin and from there to the kids. He wondered if they'd heard anything. He hoped not. He felt a knot develop in his stomach at the thought of having to explain who Blaine is. Was.

"Sorry"

"What you bleeding arguing for anyway?"

"We're not. Is Gav awake?" Kurt asked quickly

"Nah, I don't think so but wouldn't surprise me the way you two are carrying on" Quinn responded as she breezed into the kitchen and flicked the kettle on.

"Sorry, we didn't mean to wake you" Kurt whispered. Quinn huffed and scooped a spoonful of coffee into a mug.

"What's the plan for today?" she asked as the kettle boiled and she poured water into the cup.

"To steer clear of icebergs" Kurt answered and Mercedes laughed quietly

"That's so gay." Cedes whispered

"So's your face" He smirked. Something about the three of them together made Kurt act like a teenager again.

"Are we going to be doing any offers? Because I was thinking we could offer a free manicure or pedicure to all clients just until _their _launch offer ends." Kurt considered her proposal for a moment. If they did that they'd be running at a loss but maybe it wouldn't hurt them too badly. Not if it's just for a week.

"Good idea."

"What's a good idea?" Kurt turned his head to see Gavin- incredible, gorgeous, sexy Gavin- entering the kitchen and in the space of a breath he felt strong arms wrap around his waist and enclose him in a loving secure hold.

"Quinn suggested –" a kiss on his neck "we give free mani or pedicure's until their launch offer ends." He felt Gavin's vibe shift. He didn't think it was a good idea.

"Just until they quit with their stupid free drink and half price do offer" Quinn put in

"We'd be losing money" Gavin said as he released his hold on Kurt. Kurt immediately turned around and wrapped his arm around his husbands neck, Gav wrapped one arm around his waist and held him there as he spoke. Kurt felt a need to be held.

"Yea, but we'd also be giving ourselves a fighting chance." Mercedes backed up Quinn

"I don't know, guys. It's risky."

"I love risky" Kurt purred in Gavin's ear

"hah. All evidence suggests otherwise but alright, I'll let you make the call." Gavin smiled and kissed Kurt on the cheek.

* * *

Two hours later Kevin, Jonathan and the majority of the kids wished them luck and left the salon leaving Kurt and Gavin in the salon with their three kids and three staff members. Kurt looked around at them all and felt anxiety growing in his gut. Ell pinned the poster that Quinn and Mercedes had made advertising their offer in the window. The poster wasn't great but it had been very short notice. They had raided the 'kids' drawer that had laid abandoned for a number of years and made use of the glitter guns and gel pens. Nathan was in the back room on the PC watching the annoying orange and Gavin was shrugging on his coat.

"I'll get the kids to mums before school" he told Kurt. Kurt smiled but his nerves were beginning to get the better of him

"Okay."

"Nate, come on its Monday!" Gavin called and Nathan came plodding out of the office

"On Monday I go to grandmas" He asked his pap who nodded and replied

"Sure do, Nathan" He kissed Kurt and promised he'd be back within the hour. "Come on girls, shape it" Gavin said addressing their daughters.

"Are you okay Rube?" Kurt asked because her words from yesterday hadn't been forgotten.

"Why, what's up?." Gavin asked flashing Kurt a questioning look before his eyes landed on Ruby. Kurt had forgotten to tell him about their conversation, he felt kind of bad but he'd fill him in later. He had too much on his mind right now.

"Nowt. I'm fine." Ruby flicked her pap a smile but Gavin seemed to have this strange ability to know when he's being lied to and Kurt could see the tell tale sign of creases in his brow. He hadn't believed Ruby for a second.

"Good, see you later guys!" Gavin called back as he left the salon with the kids.

"Alright come on, time to freshen up everyone. Who wants their make up doing?" Quinn chirped as she set up her station.

* * *

An hour later, Gavin had returned with Starbucks and bagels for everyone and Kurt was growing into a nervous wreck. "fold the towels, Kath" He demanded for the third time that morning "and where the fuck are Deb and Adam?" Kurt felt like he had on the first ever day of trading but only ten times worse. At least back then the cards have been stacked in their favour.

"Kurt you need to calm down your giving me a headache" Quinn said as Mercedes did the finishing touches to her hair.

"Yea, you're making us dizzy" Cedes said with a hair pin in her mouth

"Tis true babe you're acting like Finn when Dil was born." Gavin emerged from the kitchen with a polystyrene cup and a little brown bag he shuddered at his own reference to his brother in law "here." He walked over to Kurt and handed the cup out " I got you your favourite; medium drip and a chocolate muffin" Kurt's brain took a second to process what Gavin had said and even then he couldn't get his head around it.

"_What?"_

"A non-fat mocha and a croissant" Gavin repeated looking at Kurt with concern. Kurt relaxed and smiled at him before taking the drink and the brown bag. He didn't feel much like eating but he knew Gav would force the issue all day if he didn't take at least one bite.

"Thank-you" Kurt smiled and brought the cup to his lips. The aromas danced in the air washing over him like a blanket of calm. He took a sip and licked his lips. "Okay." He put the cup and the bag down "are we all ready for this?"

"Yea, we're ready Kurt but are you?" Ell's question sat on his mind. He wasn't ready for this. Not at all. He didn't want to have to fight to the death but what choice did he have? He could hardly lie back and allow the past ten years to amount to nothing.

"Morning!" Kurt looked up with Debbie entered the salon followed closely by Adam

"What time do you call this?" Kurt almost shouted. He was beyond stressed now.

"Kurt." Gavin jumped in addressing Deb and Adam "Ignore him. He's stressed"

"Ooh Boy" Debbie rolled her eyes. She knew better than to get on the wrong side of her manager when he was stressed. "Today's gonna be fun." She added sarcastically.

"My thoughts exactly" Gavin agreed with a grin as he handed them both a drink

"What the fuck is that tat in the window?" Adam asked sounding highly amused

"It's our rival offer" Quinn told him "and it's not tat."

"Hah, it's tat" Adam responded as he shrugged his coat off and disappeared into the back,

"It's not tat!" Quinn shouted

"Tis" Yelled Adam "ain't it Gav?" he asked as he re appeared into the salon. Quinn turned to look at him and Gavin pretended to consider his answer

"It's tat" he said after a couple of seconds. Quinn gasped making Gavin laugh.

"Shall we go over the road and wish them luck?" Mercedes' question really knocked the wind out of Kurt. Why would she want to do that?

"No." He answered quickly before anyone got any ideas. "We need to stay focussed. Deb get on the phone and make sure we have no cancellations" He seen Gavin sucking his tongue, he was obviously holding back laughter and it just made Kurt even more frustrated. This was no laughing matter.

"On it." She said sitting down and picking up the phone.

"Cedes do something useful instead of making stupid suggestions and get rid of all these cups."

"Right, yeah" she began scooting round collecting the coffee cups

"Ell, have you got the station ready?"

"I can't find the acrylic!" she shouted from someone in the back

"fuck sake." Kurt muttered because this is exactly what he was dreading. Everything was going tits up already. He bit his lip to stop himself from shouting at everyone as he rushed past them into the back.

* * *

Blaine kissed Luke, made his excuses and left him and the team to set up. He was due at work in an hour so he couldn't stay all day anyway and he really wanted to do something for Kurt. He probably shouldn't have been thinking about him on today of all days but Kurt had been on his mind all evening and throughout the night so that by the time Blaine had woken in the morning he had been firmly wedged in place and no amount of folding towels had erased him. He drove to the florists, all the time wondering about the ring on Kurt's finger. It wouldn't surprise him if Kurt was married. Kurt had always been incredible and any number of men would have jumped at the chance to marry him. Blaine should know, he had been one of them.

_"What's that for?" Tina asked about the ring Blaine was holding over the counter. They had called into Diamonds during their shopping spree and Blaine had been mesmerised by the rings. One in particular had caught his eye. It was platinum with a little diamond studded in the middle. Kurt would've loved it. Blaine would've had the word 'Courage' engraved inside. Would; If he hadn't ended things with him four months ago._

_"I'm just looking" He answered. Maybe he could fly out to New York and surprise him with a proposal. Kurt would say yes. Wouldn't he? No. No, he wouldn't. Blaine had blown it and anyway being engaged would be more of a burden. Kurt probably had a new boyfriend now anyway so he should just move on and forget about him. There was nothing special about Kurt Hummel. Blaine told himself that all the time but he still didn't believe it. _

_"Well lets go look at shoes or something" She tugged at his arm_

_"Okay." He replied but he didn't move. His mind was full of regret. He had been so stupid._

_"Oh for godsake. Your thinking about Kurt aren't you?" He handed the ring back to the jeweller and allowed her to pull him out the store "It's normal to have doubts but come on, you know you've done right by him. It's like me and Mike. I always wonder where we'd be now if I hadn't ended it but dya know what? I don't think I wanna know because I probably wouldn't be here with you" She said linking him "and there is no place else I'd rather be" she said with a cheesy grin that he couldn't help but return._

Blaine felt a fire burning in his gut at the thought of Kurt being married to another man but he had no right to be angry and he knew that. He'd been the one to walk away, to ignore Kurt's desperate pleas. A wiser man would have listened. He breathed deeply and told himself to calm down. Kurt probably wasn't married. He indicated and turned into the car park at 'Lilly's'. He climbed out and walked into the little shop.

* * *

Kurt spent all day glancing across the street. Inbetween clients he bit his thumb and stared at Blade Runners. The interior looked really swanky, all black and white and Kurt could see a proper bar with a bar tender shaking up cocktails. The staff looked run off their feet. They wore black uniforms and Kurt found himself thinking of introducing uniforms in his place. They were attracting a really young crowd and Kurt could hear music blaring. One of the staff members was dancing and shaking her booty as she cut hair. Kurt thought she looked hugely unprofessional but maybe he was being uptight. Maybe his place needed livening up a bit. Kurt looked around his salon, they had a steady flow of clients, all the usual faces but they were no where near as busy as their rivals. He walked across the floor and cranked up the radio.

I'm on the floor, floor

I love to dance

so give me more, more

till I can't stand

Kurt ignored the shocked faces of Debbie, Kath Quinn and Cedes and instead standing bopping to the beat along with Adam who was doing a blue rinse for Edna. For her part Edna looked like she'd been slapped in the face. She didn't seem to know what to do with herself but she looked angry. Kurt made his way back to the front so he could see across with any obstructions. He noticed a couple of staff members glance his way and the handsome guy that had been in here a couple of weeks ago smiled and waved. Kurt waved back with a smug grin on his face. It was wiped off a second later when they raised the music and almost drowned out Nicki Minaj. Kurt stormed across the salon and turned on the surround sound. He also turned the dial up. The music was so loud now that Kurt couldnt hear himself think but he didnt care. He needed to get with the times and his salon was clearly behind the trend. When his client came in Kurt had to shout and get real close to greet her.

"I said what do you want doing?"

"WHAT?"

"WHAT DO YOU WA-" Gavin switched the music down and Kurt abruptly stopped dancing and stepped back "sorry. I said what do you do fancy today?"

"I'm just having a trim" Nora looked unimpressed and Kurt could feel Gavin's disapproving glare.

"Okay. Take a seat" he chirped "I'll be right back." He walked over to Gavin "what did you do that for?"

"It's too loud for the fossils" Gavin whispered with a grin that Kurt didnt return. Gavin had just hit the nail on the head. His salon attracted the fossils and he needed to break into the younger market. FloRida was blasting out from the across the road. Kurt raised his brow

"We need to be like them" he told his husband matter of factly

"No. We dont and we're going to be" Kurt huffed. He felt frustrated. His salon was boring and Blade Runner's looked exciting and happening. Kurt stormed away and began his cut.

"Starships are meant to fly" Cedes blasted spinning around once.

"hands up and touch the sky" Quinn joined in pushing her hands up, she had a make up brush in one of them and a little eye shadow selection in the other

"Cant stop 'coz we're so high, lets do this one last time" Kurt grinned as his best friends started to beat bop and shimmy. He loved them too much for words. They clearly understood what he was saying and it was heart warming to see their support.

"I'm so sorry Nora. Edna" Gavin smiled at their clients but Kurt could see it was strained " would you like a cup of tea?" The women accepted the apology and the offer of tea and Kurt watched his husband disappear into the kitchen. He felt a little guilty because he knew Gavin had his best interests at heart but he knew he was right about this. They needed to improve their client base if they were going to stand a chance of surviving.

* * *

Quinn and Mercedes stopped dancing when a woman walked into the salon with a huge bunch of flowers. Kurt looked up and felt his heart rate treble as the enormous bouquet of red and yellow roses was placed on the desk in front of Debbie.

"Special delivery" The woman said with a smile

"eerr thanks" Debbie responded hanging up the phone

"Okay. Byee!" The women smiled at everyone but her eyes landed on Kurt and she beamed at him before she left the salon. Kurt couldn't move, he felt rooted to the spot. Mercedes was gawping at him and he could feel a blush crawling into his cheeks.

"Who are they for?" Kath called over to Debbie who was already busy searching for the message card.

"Here you go E- Whoa, what are they?" Gavin handed Edna her drink and was about to go to Nora when the spotted the roses

"Roses" Quinn answered sarcastically

"Duh" He threw back at her.

"I cant find a card but theres a CD!" Deb yelled as she pulled a disk out of the middle of the bunch. Kurt could feel a lump in his throat. He had to get out of there, the room was closing in on him but he couldn't. His legs wouldn't move and he couldnt find his voice.

"Get it on!" Quinn said and she snatched it and slipped it into the cd player.

"Here ya' go Nora" Gavin handed Kurts client her drink and then he looked at Kurt. Kurt felt his eyes burning into him, he tried to smile but he couldn't.

made a wrong turn once of twice

dug my way out of blood and fire

Bad decisions, that's alright

Welcome to my silly life

_"Mistreated, misplaced" Blaine started singing along to the radio. Kurt chanced a look at him, he looked so silly wearing this little straw hat but Kurt loved him and his damn hat. _

_"misunderstood" __Kurt joined in and Blaine grinned at him. Blaine loved sing along's Kurt found them tedious and cheesy but the grin had him sold. Sing along's weren't so bad after all._

_"Miss "no way, it's all good" it didn't slow me down" Blaine started getting carried away, drumming the on the dash and Kurt laughed. Blaine was such a dork. _

"Kurt, are you okay?" Gavin's arm snaked around him and pulled Kurt out of his memories. He swallowed but his throat was so dry.

"Yeah." his voice was small, he felt even smaller. He wanted to crawl into a hole and never come out. This couldnt be happening. Maybe he was dreaming again.

"Awww" Cedes flicked the music off and walked over to the flowers "I can't believe Mark would do something like this for me" She said with excitement as she scooped them up. Kurt felt his heart rate returning to normal. He smiled in relief and threw out ten tons of love Mercedes way.

"How do you know they're from him?" Kath asked. Kurt felt himself burning up.

"Because I told him my favorite coloured roses and he was singing that to me last night and todays our three week anniversary" Kurt had to hand it to her, that girl knew how to fib. felt Gavin slap his on the ass before he got back to Edna and finished her cut.

He caught Mercedes' eye as she took the flowers into the back and mouthed thankyou she flashed him a glare. One that told him she had questions and she was going to get answers. She looked angry, Kurt hoped she hadn't jumped to the wrong conclusion. His legs were a little shaky and his stomach was flipping but he got back to Nora and listened to her endless chatter.

_**Reviews** **needed. Apply below.. haha xx**_


	5. Chapter 5

"Dad, cedes is here!" Chloe shouted as she opened the door. Kurt muttered 'fuck' under his breath before putting down the knife he was using to chop courgettes "come in. he's in the kitchen making vegetable lasagne uuurgh. Where's Faith?" Kurt heard Mercedes laugh.

"She's at her dads."

"Oh. Can she stay over on Saturday?" _Time to intervene_. Kurt wiped his hands on a tea towel that he carried out in the hall

"I said no sleepover." He said sternly to his daughter before addressing his friend "Hi Cedes."

"yeah so" Chloe responded with attitude

"so you're not having one." Mercedes shook her head, Kurt didn't know if it was at him or Chloe but he didn't really care.

"Hi Kurt" Mercedes answered as she unbuttoned her coat

"Bet I am though" Chloe crossed her arms and stalked off into the living room where she was watching re runs of Modern Family.

"Ha, kids who needs 'em?" Mercedes laughed shrugging off her coat and draping it over the banister.

"Not me." Kurt turned his back on her and walked back into the kitchen. He didn't mean to be rude but he knew exactly what Mercedes was here for. It was the same reason she'd been calling him and the same reason he'd been avoiding her for the past two days.

"Where's Gav?" she followed him into the kitchen and filled the kettle.

"He's taken Nate to get an ipad. he's due back any minute." He added quickly in an attempt to prevent the conversation from forming.

"and Ruby?"

"Oh she's-" Kurt was suddenly struck by the realisation that he didn't know where Ruby was. She'd left the house about an hour ago wearing a purple dress and black tights but she hadn't mentioned where she was going and he hadn't had time to ask "at a friend's" he finished limply

"she's a teenager Kurt" Mercedes flicked the kettle on. She had seen straight through him, she could do that and he hated it. Plus, she was stating the obvious.

"I know that."

"d'ya 'member what we were like as teens?" she asked with a little laugh as she fished in the cupboard for cups.

"I would never speak to my dad like these kids speak to me" He was chopping the courgettes again and debating whether he needed that last one "are you staying for tea?"

"Vegetable lasagne?" she said with disgust "nah thanks" he looked at her and raised his eye brow. There was no way she could criticize his cooking. That woman had never once managed to pull an un-burnt pizza from her oven yet.

"Suit yourself" he put the remaining courgette in the fridge

"Pass us the milk" Kurt grabbed the carton and passed it to Mercedes who tipped a small amount into two mugs. "Yeah so like I was saying, d'ya remember what we were like at seventeen?"

"Oh. Do not remind me. I have nightmares thinking about Ruby developing a pathetic crush on her gay best friend." He replied with a smirk

"Fuck you Kurt." She poured boiling water into the cups and handed one to him. "I was sixteen back then."

"she was only sixteen, only sixteen but I loved her so, she was too young to fall in love and I was too young too know" Mercedes laughed as he sang the Dr Hook song.

"I'm not even gonna ask how you know that song" She opened cupboards moving tins around.

"What are you looking for?"

"Biccies"

"Try the biscuit tin." He responded. She smirked at him and reached for the tin

"didn't think you'd be so obvious" she said dipping her hand into the tin

"I haven't got the energy to be anything else" he opened a tin of chopped tomatoes

"Don't I know it." She muttered dipping a hobnob into her coffee and taking a bite "They're doing fine by the way"

"Yeah. Thanks for the update but I don't really give two shits" Mercedes and Quinn had been winding up making unhelpful comments about how well their rivals were doing. He knew they weren't doing it to deliberately piss him off but their hourly updates at the salon were giving him grey hairs.

"Im not on about Blade Runners." She said with a hint of confusion in her voice. Silence. "I'm on about the roses" Kurt didn't reply. He opened the cupboard and fished out the oval oven dish he needed for the lasagne placing it on the side. "Don't ignore me Kurt"

"I told you I don't know anything about them."

"Oh Piss off! You talk about him in your sleep, a bunch of bleedin flowers show up at the salon and that damn CD and I'm supposed to believe it's all one big coincidence? You must think I'm fucking stupid." Kurt bit his lip. He didn't this right now. Mercedes was getting louder, Kurt could hear anger spitting out from her words.

"Shut up. Chlo's in the front room." He warned sternly.

"Oh sorry. I forgot."

"Yeah well. Like I said I didn't dream about him, I don't know where the flowers came from and as that for CD …I just don't know what to tell you. You haven't been listening anyway."

"Then just tell me the truth."

* * *

Kurt finished off the prepping the lasagne as he told Mercedes everything. Well, there wasn't all that much to tell her really. He told her about their chance meeting, _if you could call it that, _at the store and he confessed to having a couple of dreams- _nightmares_- about him since but that was where the story ended. He hadn't seen Blaine since their five second encounter and he made it clear to his friend that had no intention of doing so.

"Then what were the flowers all about?" she eyed him suspiciously

"I told you I don't know" he responded flatly taking a sip of coffee

"Well…do you want to know what I _do_ know?" Kurt rolled his eyes and tipped his cup into the sink. He didn't really want to know what Mercedes knew or claimed to know but she was going to tell him anyway. He rinsed the cup out and breathed deeply. She was stressing him out.

"What's that then?" She slammed her cup down and when she responded her words were laced with something Kurt couldn't quite put his finger on.

"Gavin doesn't deserve this." Her words blew a hole through Kurt's mind and anger quickly filled it.

"What the fuck are you insinuating?"

"You know full damn well what I'm insinuating." She hissed "I can't believe, after everything you've seen me go through, that you'd risk losing everything for an old flame." Mercedes stopped speaking but Kurt was too pumped up to let the matter drop

"You- wha- are you insane? I haven't even spoken to Blaine in-"

"I know." She cut him off but he wasn't about to be silenced his own home, not when she'd come in making crazy accusations.

"No I don't think you do. You just thi-"

"Dad?" Kurt turned on the spot and in an instant he was looking into Chloe's wide eyes. Fear took root in his stomach. _How much had she heard? _

"Chlo" It was all he could manage besides, without knowing how much she'd heard it wasn't safe to elaborate.

"Whoa" she held her hands up in a 'it wasn't me' kind of gesture. It made the stylist relax a little. "are we having garlic bread?" _Phew_

"I can do garlic bread if you like." His voice was a little pitchy but he controlled it well; at least he thought so.

"I like" She answered cheerfully with a sweet smile "I want a drink" Mercedes bit her tongue and moved out the way.

"I better get going." She said to Kurt. He wasn't finished with her but now wasn't the time to argue. Kurt watched as Chloe started running the tap and reaching for a glass.

"Er okay. I'll see you out." He followed his friend out of the kitchen and down the hall.

Once Mercedes was coated up Kurt opened the door and the two friends stepped outside. Kurt hugged his stomach to blanket himself from the cold and pulled the door to behind him. "How long was she there for?" He asked quietly. Cedes shrugged

"I don't know what she heard, I'm sorry Kurt. I completely forgot she was home" Silence followed her response. It was thick and heavy.

"Right. Well, I'll see you in the morning" She made to hug him but Kurt backed away.

"I'm not having an affair." The words needed to be said although he couldn't believe it was Mercedes who needed to hear them. She had always been his closest friend and confident but he was now realising how little she actually knew him. He could feel the cracks forming in the years of trust they had built up. The accusation of Kurt having an affair was laughable, or it would have been if it hadn't come from her.

"Kurt-"

"…"

"I won't cover for you again"

"Just go." He didn't know what else to say to her. She clearly didn't believe him, he could see the doubt clouding her vision. She bit her lip and nodded. Kurt turned to go back inside.

"Oh hi Cedes!" Gavin's voice stopped him in his tracks. He turned to see his husband walking up the drive and Nathan running towards him

"Dad! Dad! Look!" Kurt forced a smile

"What? What?"

"I got a new iPad! Look!" He waved the device in his dads face and Kurt couldn't help but feel excited. His children's excitement always seemed to seep into him.

"Wow! Go inside out the cold and I'll come in a minute. You can show me everything" Nate seemed satisfied with his response. He ran into the house, Kurt heard him shouting Chloe excitedly.

"Err what's going on guys?" Apparently that pesky tension was still hanging around and Gavin had picked up on it.

"Nothing." Mercedes answered quickly

"Great. Come in, stay for dinner. I'm sure there's plenty, Kurt is there plenty?" Gavin looked towards him. _show time. _ Kurt smiled as brightly as he could muster. Something in his stomach didn't like the sight of him and Mercedes standing so close together.

"Oh, Yea but she was just leaving. She has to..er-"

"Pick Faith up from Dan's." Cedes quickly filled in "I have to pick Faith up"

"Oh. Okay, another time then." Kurt watched his husband hug her "see you tomorrow"

"Oh you betcha" She said with a giggle "Bye Kurt!" She waved at him and started walking down the drive

"Bye!" He called with a lightness he didn't feel. He looked at Gav who approached him and raised his brow

"Someone's tense" He said before planting a gentle kiss on Kurt's lips "I'll fix that later" he winked causing Kurt to blush.

"Let's get inside." Kurt shivered "You do garlic bread, I want to see what's Nate's got" His felt his husband hand over his ass as he stepped into the house

"Okay babe"

* * *

A couple of hours later after the family had been fed and Nathan was in bed Kurt had been cleaning around the bathroom when Ruby walked in.

"What time do you call this?" He heard Gavin's angry voice floating up the stairs

"11:30" She answered breezily

"Don't get lippy young lady, where the hell have you been?"

"I'm not. You asked what time I called it so I told you." Kurt dropped the wash cloth into the sink and moved into quietly into onto the landing. He wondered if he should intervene but thought against it. Gavin was always telling him to be more strict so he was interested to see how he would handle the situation.

"Oh is that so?" _don't challenge her, don't bleeding challenge her._

"Yeah"

"We'll let me tell you something. You're grounded and I want your phone." He heard his eldest daughter snort

"Fuck that. Oh and I have a new job so you're not my boss anymore" He heard her stomp up the stairs and quickly ran back into the bathroom closing the door behind him. _This is sad, hiding from my seventeen year old daughter._

A tiny knock on the door made him put the Mr Muscle down, he strode across the room and unlocked the door.

"Chlo, what are you doing up? It's late. You have school tomorrow."

"I need to speak to you" she whispered. _Shit._

"Okay, go back to bed. I'll be in in a minute" He whispered back. He didn't want Gavin to hear them , he didn't want to hear what she had to say himself but he could hardly ignore her when she'd probably been lying awake worrying that her dad is about to run off with 'an old flame' named Blaine. He hoped Mercedes got a good night's sleep because he was going to kill her in the morning. He put the cleaning products away, turned out the light and crept across the landing into his daughter's room.

Chloe was sitting up in bed, her lamp emitting a warm glow into the room. She looked over when he entered and gave him a weak smile. He smiled back and closed the door softly, tip toeing across the fluffy purple rug and sitting on the end of her bed. "What's on your mind baby girl?"

"I just.. I …er..I.." She stumbled for words and it broke Kurt's heart. He moved along the bed and placed his hand on the blanket over her legs.

"What is it?" He felt a lump wedge itself in his throat. She looked up at him with tears welling her eyes.

"I really love you dad" Her words hit him like a punch in the gut.

"Oh Chlo" He moved closer and tenderly pushed her hair behind her ear "I love you too." Chloe brightened up. She smiled at him, Kurt returned and waited for his daughter to continue but she seemed satisfied by his response and yawned sleepily. "Get some sleep. You're up early." He stood up and kissed her forehead. She lay down, he reached over switched off her lamp and was about to leave the room when a voice rose from out of the darkness

"So about this sleepover…"


	6. Chapter 6

**I did abandon this story until anacia PM'd about it so I wrote this chapter today and it is dedicated to you, anacia, thanks for the message and I'm pleased you like it. Hope it doesn't disappoint, it's been a while :)**

Weekday mornings in the Hummel-Farraday household were always chaotic and Friday was no exception. The girls bickered over bathroom time and squabbled over clothing, apparently Chloe had stolen her sisters jumper but Kurt didn't really see that happening. It was more likely that Ruby hadn't put her clothes away properly and he knew if he looked he'd find it screwed up at the bottom of her wardrobe along with so many other 'lost' items of clothing but truth be told he could be assed getting involved. His mind was on other things like how his daughter had taken to blackmailing him and how his son was refusing to eat breakfast unless Gavin poured the milk onto the Wheetos which usually wouldn't be a problem but his husband wasn't home. Kurt had no idea where Gav was, he wasn't answering his phone and he'd already left when he'd woken up. There wasn't even a note attached to the fridge which did seem odd but he was too busy to worry about that now; he had to drop the kids at school in forty minutes and Nathan wasn't even dressed yet.

"It'll taste the same, I promise." He slid the bowl in front of his son for the third time.

"I want papa to make it" Nathan pushed it away, he couldn't understand why dad was making it and not papa. _Papa always makes breakfast on Fridays_, he thought to himself. He hadn't even seen papa this morning, _maybe it isn't Friday._ The calendar on the wall said it was Friday though. Nathan bit his lip and looked around for papa as his confusion grew.

"Daddy's made it this morning, Nate. Papa had to go out. Just eat it, you're gonna be late for school" Kurt pushed the cereal back towards his son but it garnered the same response.

"I can't be late for school. Papa never makes me late! I want Papapapapapapa" Nathan started kicking his legs out like he had at the salon and chanting papa like it would magically make him appear. Kurt wished it would. It wasn't like Gavin to mess up Nate's routines and Gav was so much better at this than he was.

"its ok you won't be late." Kurt reassured his son as he lifted up the bowl. He obviously wasn't going to eat it. "you can leave this for now, let's go get dressed"

"Papapapapapapa"

"Nate, we have to get you dressed if you don't want to be late"

"Papapapapapapapa"

"Papa isn't here, get dressed and he might be back to take you to school"

"Papapapapa"

"Ahhhh Dad!" the frustrated father looked up when Chloe raced into the room so quickly that she tripped and stumbled almost smacking her head on the side board, luckily her hands shot out and she caught herself before that happened.

"Papapapapa"

"Be careful!" Kurt shouted to his daughter who was dressed in her school uniform but her hair was all over the place and she didn't have any shoes on. "Don't run around in tights, you could have seriously injured yourself." He scolded her.

"Papapapapa"

"It wasn't me." She sulked " it was Ruby, she chased me down the stairs with a pair of scissors! She said she's gonna cut my hair if I don't give her the jumper but I haven't even got it and she doesn't believe me!"

"Papapapapa"

"Just ignore her. Get ready, go do your hair and –"

"I can't ignore her, she's throwing my clothes everywhere-Oh my god! shesgonnacutthemup!" Kurt heard his daughter shriek something inaudible as she ran from the room and bounded up the stairs.

"Just get ready!" He shouted after her. Kurt stood by the sink, burying his face in his hands. He could hear the girls screaming and shouting insults at each other and Nathan's constant chant was giving him a headache. Why wasn't he good enough? Why did it have to be papa when daddy could do everything just as well? He rubbed his face and walked across the kitchen to retrieve his phone from the counter top. He called his husband on speed dail.

_Welcome to the 02 Voice messaging service-_

"fuck sake" he ended the call and banged the phone back down. "Girls!" he shouted as loud as he could but they evidentially ignored him and continued banging about and screaming.

"Papapapapapa"

"Nathan he's not here, I don't know where he is just shut up!" As soon as the words left his mouth he regretted them. The boys chants grew in sound and intensity so he was practically shouting for his papa. It broke Kurt's heart. He quickly moved towards his son "Oh Nate, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to shout, I'm not angry with you I promise. Please stop shouting"

"PAPAPAPAPAPA!"

"Nathan! What's wrong with him?" Ruby swooped into the Kitchen and in an instant she was beside her brother running her hand through his hair and then rubbing soothing circles into his back "Hey, hey, Papa's coming soon, shall me and you go and get dressed so we can surprise him when he gets back?" Kurt watched in astonishment as Nathan stopped chanting and nodded, standing up, taking his sisters hand.

"are his clothes on his bed?" Ruby asked her dad.

"Yea, but you don't have to do that. I can manage, you just finish getting ready" Kurt replied

"Dad. I've got it and besides, you've already done such a great job giving him his breakfast this morning" Ruby's eyes flashed towards the bowl of untouched soggy cereal that sat on the side "I'll get him ready and give him his brekky when we come down" she told him not in a smug way but in a way that told him she knew what she was doing. She'd spent enough time with the little squirt to know that he wouldn't eat out of that bowl regardless of who made it. He needed to have the yellow one that was so old it had cracks running through it.

"Go upstairs Nate and hide, I'm gonna find ya! Run!" Nathan burst into excited giggles as he went running from the room. She turned to face her dad, he looked really stressed and she felt a little bad. A little. He should have been able to cope with the morning routine but he couldn't even do that, her dad wasn't much of a dad at all. She hated to think what life would be like without her papa around, he always got them to school on time and he managed Nathan without much guidance. When her papa was around Ruby could just be the 17 year old sister instead of the 17 year old stand-in parent. "Where's Pap?"

"He'll be back soon."

"That's not what I asked"

"Look Rube, I don't have time for this. Get ready, get your brother ready, tell your sister to get ready and hurry up, your all going to be late at this rate" as he spoke he picked up the bowl and scrapped the soggy cereal into the trash

"Fuck you" Ruby spat before turning from the room and running up the stairs. She was angry with her dad and fed up of being spoken down to like a child. Both her parents treated Chloe with more respect; they didn't make her work weekends in the salon, it's not like she didn't take care of Nathan whenever they asked so she shouldn't have to give up her weekends. It wasn't fair but whatever, she didn't work for them anymore. She'd gone out yesterday and gotten herself a new job, one that had set hours and a set rate of pay. She hadn't told her dad yet but she was pretty sure pap would have said something about it to him last night but, as usual, her dad had more important things on his mind; things that probably revolved around Chloe and Nathan.

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Gavin indicated left and turned onto his street checking the dash as he did. It was 8:40, he was back on time to take the kids to school which, right now, was all he cared about. He pulled at the end of the drive and switched off the engine. He was worried about Nate. He should have come back hours ago, before the kids had woken up, but he'd been too het up.

Kurt had been talking in his sleep again, it had become the norm now and yet it wasn't normal. Gavin wasn't a jealous man, he didn't care if Kurt dreamt of other men. You can't control your dreams. He did however, care that his husband had been dreaming of the same man every night for the past month and every night ended in the same desperate pleas. He'd tried to put it out of his mind, to think nothing of it but when Mercedes had heard it her reaction had confirmed Gavin's worst fears; Blaine was clearly the guy that Kurt, _his_ Kurt, had been obsessing over when Gavin had first met him twenty seven years ago in a café by the airport. He was the reason that Kurt had been so guarded in those first few years. What that man had done made Gavin's blood boil but years had gone by, they had children for crying out loud! Why was Blaine suddenly back in the picture – and he _was _back in the picture. Gavin was a lot of things but dumb wasn't one of them; no one spends that much time on someone's subconscious without crossing over at some point.

The worried husband would probably have laid back down last night and fallen into a turmoil sleep like nights gone by but the things Kurt had said were giving him heartache and his chest had been hurting so badly it had been hard to breathe; harder still when he'd looked at his husband and watched him sleeping, wondering what thoughts were running through his mind, wondering whether Blaine was with him.

He didn't know where'd he'd been driving to; he'd just been driving, putting as much distance between himself and his thoughts as he possibly could. Turns out you can't run away from yourself.

"PAPA!" Gavin looked up when he heard Nathan shout excitedly. He was fully dressed and looked set to go which was kind of a surprise. Gavin instantly felt bad. Kurt was a good parent, he'd always been hands on and he was great with the girl but he wasn't always so good with it came to Nate. Ever since the diagnoses Gavin had watched his husband step back and struggle to adapt his fantastic parenting technique to that of an autistic child, Kurt was unsure of himself around their son and it broke Gav's heart. He knew his husband wanted nothing more than to connect with the twelve year old but Gavin feared it was too late. Routines had been learnt, standards had been set and although he'd never say anything to Kurt, Nathan often asked him why dad wasn't at the salon whenever he was home early or on holiday. He didn't ask on Sunday's or Wednesday's because he knew they were his dad's regular days off although on them days the question would often be 'why is dad at the salon?'

"Nate!" Gav threw open and jumped out throwing open his arms which were instantly filled with a bubbling Nate. "Oooh I missed you." He kissed his son's head "come on, let's get you to school." he released his hold and looked up.

Ruby was throwing her bag over her shoulder, walking down the drive towards him and Chloe was shooting her sister daggers from behind. Of course the morning didn't go down without a hitch, he rolled his eyes and smiled at his daughters

"Come on, chop chop, not got all day" Nathan laughed as his dads words as he climbed into the back seat and strapped himself in

"Chop chop, not got all day!" he shouted to his sisters who were making a meal out of the short walk.

"shut up mooooooron" Ruby bounced over to the window and stuck her tongue out making her brother cry with laughter

"Alright, get in. Let's hit the road." The girls bundled into the car, Gavin looked up and met Kurt's curious yet angry gaze from the top of the drive way. The car door slammed. "I'll be back soon" he told his husband and then he climbed in beside Ruby and started the engine.

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"I never said that at all!" Ruby shouted at Chloe who was telling her papa about the threats her sister had made if she didn't return the jumper that she hadn't even seen in like four weeks.

"You liar!" Chloe yelled from the back seat

"Girls." Gavin's tone made it clear that it was time to shut up. He didn't like his children arguing and particularly not around their brother.

"Lying is bad" Nathan said into a silence that had been thickening like soup

"That's right" Gavin responded "which is why we don't ever do it."

"Try telling that to Rube" Chloe mutter sarcastically

"you better shut up Chloe." The seventeen year old was sick of her sister always making a deal of nothing just because she was the golden child who always got her own way. It's like with the whole sleep over, pap had said no, dad had said no and then Chloe stropped and dad said yea.. that would never have happened when she was fourteen. Hell, she wasn't even allowed to have friends stay over now that she was 17. _It's always been one rule for them and another for me._

"Dad told me to shut up" Nathan announced innocently

"No he never Nate" Chloe said sternly, he probably had but she didn't want her pap to get angry at her dad. Something was wrong there already, she could tell and she didn't like it. She hoped her papa hadn't found out about Blaine because he'd probably jump to the same conclusion as Cedes but she was wrong; Chloe knew she was. _ Dad wouldn't do a thing like that_, _he loves us._

"Yes he did" Nathan told his sister

"Why did he tell you to shut up?" Gavin asked

"no he_ never_" Chloe hissed back to him hoping he'd get the hint, unfortunately she was speaking to Nathan and he didn't get hints. Ever.

"Yes he did!"

"He did." Ruby backed him up and turned to look at her frustrated sister "your just _lying _because your dad's golden child and you-"

"Alright." Gavin silenced the girls and looked at Nathan in the mirror. He was looking out the window. "_Nathan_, why did dad tell you to shut up?" he stressed his sons name so that the girls would get the hint not to say a thing. He wanted to hear it from Nate, that way he'd be hearing the truth.

"because it's Friday an-"

"He was just stressed because me and Rube were ar-"

"Shhhhsh, go on Nate"

"because it's Friday and you wasn't there" his answer made Gavin's heart pound painfully against his rib cage. He should have gone home hour ago.

"I'm really sorry that I wasn't there, I had somewhere I needed to be but I'm here now." He looked in the mirror, Nathan was still staring out of the window "are you made at me?" Nathan shook his head

"He wouldn't eat his wheetos. Wanted you to pour the milk and dad was using the wrong bowl." Ruby whispered. Gavin chanced a look at his daughter; he hated that hair colour but Kurt hadn't wanted to stifle her creativity and individuality, he smiled at her but she didn't return it.

"What's up?"

"She's got bitchitus, didn't you know?" Chloe piped up from the back seat again

"Ok, whatever's going on between you just knock it on the head, would you? You're sisters and when you get older you're going to be best friends." The driver told his daughters

"Don't think so." Chloe said

"well either way I'm asking you to drop it." He said as he pulled up outside the girls school

"Fine." His youngest daughter grumbled before she clambered out the car, slamming the door behind herself. Ruby followed suit

"Oh" she lent into the car just as she was about to close the door "forgot to tell you I'll be home late tonight. Got my first shift." She told her pap and then she closed the door before he could respond. She walked to the back door and opened it "Giz a kiss moooron" she said to Nate who quickly puckered his lips and met his sisters. "see you later, be good. I freakin' love you dot com." She smiled and ruffled his hair.

"Love you too" he smiled at her and waved as the car pulled off.

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Gavin arrived back at the house ten minutes later having dropped Nathan off at his specialist school to find an angry Kurt scrubbing away at the kitchen sink.

"Hi." Kurt dropped the scourer and turned around

"Where have you been? I've been trying to call you." Gavin was going to tell him the truth, he was but he standing there looking at his perfect husband he couldn't do it. He told himself there was no point, he was just being stupid but in reality he was just too afraid of what he might discover.

"I know. I'm sorry. I had a call from mum- her chest was really bad, I had to take her to the hospital" He lied and immediately felt guilty when Kurt's frown relaxed.

"Oh no, is she alright?"

"Yea, she'll be fine."

"Good." Kurt felt the panic subside and anger returning once again "Why didn't you wake me or text me or something?"

"I'm sorry Ok? I didn't think. I'm sorry, it won't happen again" Gavin crossed the kitchen and held out his hand. Kurt smiled weakly and took it

"I was so worried and stressed, Gav, I fucking hate mornings!" he smiled, it melted Gavin's heart.

"Oh babe, I'm sorry."

"It okay, I understand, you were worried about your mom. I'll call up later and see her" Gavin's pulse trebled. This is why he didn't like lies, they spin out of control. He'd have to call him mum and feed her half a story now so she'd agree to go along with his story. She'd probably be glad of the chocolates and company Kurt would bring for her but it wasn't the point, Gavin didn't like lying and especially not to Kurt.

"err ok – but, right now, how's about we see if I can change alter your dislike of mornings" Kurt blushed leaving Gavin to wonder how he could still blush like that after all those years.

"I'd love that" Kurt leant in and kissed his husband on the lips "but we can't. I need to open the salon"

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At 3:30 Ruby walked into the salon, she didn't bother to turn around to see if she'd been spotted, and headed straight for the back office to let her new manager know she'd arrived for her first shift. The door was open so she just walked in but immediately regretted it when a man she didn't recognise looked up from behind the desk.

"Hi, can I help you?" Ruby could think of a million way in which the man could help her but none of them were appropriate to their situation. He was really hot though and she only hoped she wasn't sweating with the heat he was emitting.

"I..er..sorry, I'm Ruby err I'm looking for Luke."

"Oh, he's not here right now. Are you the new starter?"

"Yea. He said to come after school and –well..here I am" she laughed nervously. She felt like a geek. Something about that guy was making her lose her coolness-oh yeah, it would be that he's super hot.

"Here you are!" The man grinned "Right well..err-" he stood up, dropped the pen onto the desk, shuffled the papers into somewhat of a neat pile and placed them on the corner of the desk "let's get you settled in. I'm Blaine, by the way and this, Ruby, is Blade Runners." He said enthusiastically as he stepped out from the office and dramatically held out his hands as if introducing her to the salon itself. Which he was. She thought it was adorable.

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**thoughts/ ideas/ anything? **


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N- Thankyou for the messages and reviews to continue, I'd have stopped ages ago but we're all still here so here you go..._

Blaine didn't know what to do. Luke was supposed to be back by now but once again he was dumping his shit on Blaine. The lawyer had no idea what he was supposed to do with the girl with pink hair standing in-front of him, he would have asked her to take a seat out front and wait for the manager but the poor girl was so nervous and there was something about the sound of her uncertain laugh that prevented him from doing so. He stood up, gathered his clients paper work together leaving it in a pile on the desk- he could always read through the case notes later- and remembered he hadn't even introduced himself.

"I'm Blaine, by the way, and this, Ruby, is Blade Runners" He stepped outside of the spacious office and opened his arms in way of introducing the newbie to the salon. She smiled nervously and waved at the wall

"Hi Blade Runner" The man couldn't help but chuckle, he was glad he did because the young girl visibly relaxed into a grin. Blaine where to start with this induction, he usually left the running of the salon to his fiancé just keeping the books up to date and ensuring Luke broke no laws in the process.

"Have you ever worked in a salon before?" He asked the girl

"Yeah, I told Luke that I could literally just jump straight in. I'm a qualified stylist and I'm half way through a beauticians course" she lied about the qualifications, her fathers had never formally trained her but she was as good as anyone who had the lousy certificate so what the fuck should it matter?

"Wow and here's me thinking you were still a school kid" The lawyer replied with a grin.

"I am but my parents own a salon"_ If your parents owned a salon you wouldn't even be here_. He could smell the bull shit; he wished Luke would be a little savvier with his employment process, he probably gave this girl the job because of her hair colour; it would be like Luke to do something like that. This kid probably wouldn't even know how to answer the phone in a professional manner which, he decided, would be a great place to start her up.

"How are you on the phone?" he looked at her as he started walking towards the reception desk. She walked beside him.

"Great but Luke said I'd be able to jump straight in as a stylist" Yeah, that wasn't happening.

"Did he? Okay well er …just a minute" Ruby leant on the desk and watched Blaine walk across the salon and approach one of the stylists- a plastic with blonde hair and too much make up. He'd glanced out the window as he did it and Ruby struggled to hide the smirk. It seemed that this place were just as worried about the competition as her dad was. The stylist looked round at Ruby and engaged the curly haired man in a conversation she couldn't hear above the pumping music. She hadn't been waiting long when the man was walking back towards her.

"You can shadow Jenna for today, if you happy to do that?, and when Luke gets back I'll let him decide what to do with you" The man laughed nervously. Ruby frowned, she didn't want to shadow anyone and besides, she was probably twice as qualified as that bimbo.

"Yeah, that's fine." She answered cheerfully and grinned when he stole another quick glance across the street. She wondered if she'd been spotted yet. They probably had their faces up to the window so it's no wonder Blaine kept glancing over.

"Excellent! Do you want to put your bag in the office for now, until Luke assigns you a locker, and then, if you're happy to, you can get started? I'll introduce you to Jenna. She's our head stylist" Blaine spoke with an infectious grin and the teenager just knew she was going to be putty in his hands.

"Sure" she smiled and headed back towards the office slugging her bag which contained her school uniform off her shoulder.

**_Where are you? New girl started, I've put her with Jen for now - B_**

Blaine sent the text to his piss taking fiancé and stood in the office doorway observing Pink interacting with Jenna and her client. She suddenly seemed to be oozing confidence and Blaine wondered if perhaps she had worked in a salon for a small while, maybe for her work experience.

**_Coming now and thanks babe but she's a stylist – Luke_**

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"I want to see them." Blaine said for the third time. There was no way that young girl was cutting hair unless Luke could show him the photocopied certificates of the qualifications she claimed to own.

"Well I told you, I haven't got them on me" Luke hated the way Blaine took everything so serious. Okay, he was a lawyer but that didn't mean he had to bring his work into Luke's business all the time. He knew the girl didn't have qualifications but she knew what she was doing; he'd seen her in action in the salon across the street.

"Well until you do she doesn't touch a pair of scissors" The lawyer gathered his paper work and placed it neatly into his brief case. He looked up with Luke scoffed

"This is _my_ business Blaine, stop bringing yours into it."

"Whatever. I have to go." Blaine swooped down and pecked the manger on the cheek "I'm serious Luke. No paper work, no scissors" The manager rolled his eyes and Blaine sighed defeated, he couldn't supervise Luke all day and he knew as soon as he left that Pink would be setting up her own styling station but he had to go. He was meeting a client in half an hour and even if he left now he'd be ten minutes late. He'd come straight back and sort this mess out before it got any messier.

Luke tutted and pulled his smoking hot fiancé in for another kiss, this one deeper and longer. "Right." He pulled back "Go, and good luck" Blaine stood up, picked up the brief case and walked towards the exit before taking one last look at the handsome man sitting behind the desk

"No scissors, Luke." He said seriously

"Goodbye!" The manager shouted cheerfully causing Blaine to huff in frustration and hurry out of the building. He was tired of this constant battle. If Luke wasn't more careful he'd find himself on the wrong side of the law and Blaine wasn't sure he'd have the either the strength or the desire to rescue the ignorant fool.

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Ruby stood as close to the window as she could. As she cut her new clients hair she danced and laughed and even necked a sneaky Malibu and coke that Ajai, the bar tender, brought over to her, all the while secretly hoping that her dad would see her and come storming across the road. He never did. About an hour into her shift, she had been standing back to back with the head stylist, both busy with a client when Luke came over and stood in-front of them.

"Jenna, I'm just nipping out will you keep an eye on things for me darling?" Ruby listened to the interaction there were a lot of sweethearts and darlings being thrown around.

"Sure babe, where you going?" Ruby looked up when the manager didn't answer right away, he was looking at her in a way that clearly told her she wasn't to know the answer.

"The cake shop" he replied innocently flashing her a warm smile. Jenna laughed at what was clearly an inside joke.

"Ok sweetheart no problem"

"Thanks darling. How you doing Ruby?" She looked up at her managers question and smiled

"Yea, It's great"

"Good" he smiled back at her and looked to Jenna "See you later then"

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do" Jenna called after him with a giggle. The manager smirked at herk and walked out.

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Blaine was in a foul mood when he arrived back at the salon. He'd lost the case and with it his winning streak. He glanced across the street before entering Blade and noticed Kurt in an instant. He was always easy to spot with his amazing fashion sense and his perfect hair; he was speaking to a woman with blonde hair. He couldn't see her face from where they stood but for a second he was reminded of Quinn.

**_You're a fucking fool Blaine. I hope you thought twice because you've just made the biggest mistake of your life. – Quinn_**

_Blaine read the message and felt his spirit sink. He'd broken up with Kurt twelve hours ago and the angry texts from his friends were streaming in steadily. Rachel had taken him to the airport, she'd offered to board the plane with him not wanting to leave him on his own but he'd declined the offer. If he couldn't have Kurt , he didn't want anybody. _

_"who was that?" Tina snatched the phone from his hands. She'd been called by Rachel and had met Blaine at the airport. They were in his room now, lying beside each other on his bed both of them were exhausted but he wasn't about to sleep and she wasn't about to leave him. She read the message and snorted. What the hell would Quinn know? She hardly spent any time with Kurt or Blaine and she definitely wasn't an expert on relationships; not successful ones anyway. _

_"Just ignore her, Blaine. She doesn't know anything!" She threw the phone on the bed and wrapped her arms around her fellow glee clubber._

_"Tina?" Blaine's quiet voice pulled her from her half- sleep._

_"Yeah?"_

_"what if she's right?" The young girl snuggled in closer and planted a kiss on his shoulder _

_"She isn't" _

It wasn't Quinn. It couldn't be. He blinked and rubbed his hands over his face. Kurt was looking over now, Blaine froze momentarily but soon realised the man hadn't seen him. He was looking into Blade Runners with a pained expression on his face. The woman brought her hand stroked Kurt's upper arm, Blaine wished he knew what they were talking about because it clearly had something to do with Luke's salon. He hoped that guy hadn't been causing trouble but even if he had Blaine couldn't be angry with Luke. He had no right to be; he'd been the one to purchase the property knowing full well that it stood opposite Kurt's business. He bit back his emotions and entered the busy salon.

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A young woman stood at the end of the street gathering up courage, she watched the man disappear into the salon and then she crossed the road and entered Hummel Faradays. The salon was warm in contrast to the bitter cold outside and she was instantly greeted by a very cheerful woman

"Hello, welcome to Hummel Faradays, can I help you?" The woman smiled and approached the desk

"Hi, I'm looking for –

"Are you here about the job?" The woman cut across her and Liz found herself nodding.

"Great, just a sec, I'll let Gav and Kurt know you're here"

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Blaine felt anger flaring when he seen the young girl with Pink hair holding a pair of scissors. He stormed into the office to confront Luke but the manger wasn't around so he walked over to Jenna "Where's Luke?" He asked his fiancés best friend. Ruby couldn't be sure but she thought he sounded angry.

"he's just nipped out to the shops. He wont be long" The blonde replied, Ruby frowned. The manager had been out for three hours already.

"Alright, well..." He wasn't sure how to go about this but he couldn't stand back and do nothing "would you mind coming in to the office, Ruby?" The young girl nodded

"Yeah, I'll just finish Zoe's hair and-"

"Leave it, I'm sure Jenna is more than capable of finishing it" Blaine told the teen and then he turned and walked towards the office. Ruby stared after him and looked and Jenna who shrugged

"You best go." She told the teen "I'll be with you in a moment Zo"

Ruby put down the scissors wondering what on earth she'd done wrong and cautiously approached the office.

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Kurt had a good mind to storm across the road but Quinn and Gavin had talked him down. They said Ruby was just playing up for attention and that she'd soon come back when she realised that there was no special treatment for her over there. Kurt wasn't so sure, he knew something like this was going to happen and patience wasn't what it used to be. _How long was he supposed to wait for her to change her mind before he intervened?_

"Just give it time" Quinn had said and now Kurt was trying to fill that time by washing all the towels and doing a general clean up whilst the salon was quiet.

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"I don't have the certificates" Ruby said "but I am qualified. I worked weekends at my dads salon and-"

"well…Ruby, why don't you want to work there anymore?" Blaine looked at the Pink haired girl and waited for her respond. He knew she was mulling over the answer.

"Just family stuff" she shrugged like she hadn't a care in the world

"well..the thing is Ruby, you can't work as a hairdresser without the correct qualifications"

"But my dad taught me and he's one of the best in the business!" The young girl sounded desperate and Blaine found himself wanting to help her

"Why don't you go to college and study hairdressing or beauty? We could even look into funding you if-"

"Luke said it would be fine because of my experience working across the road and-"Blaine sat up a little straighter. Had she just said what he thought she'd said?

"You worked at Hummel Farradays?" he tried to keep any emotion out of his voice but he was livid. Was Luke poaching staff from Kurt? This was worse than he imagined. He should never have bought this place…he should never have come back…he should never have left in the first place.

"Yea" Ruby raised her brow. She was probably going to get fired now; accused of being a spy or something ridiculous like that "but-"

"I thought you said you worked for your parents?" Blaine interrupted her. His heart rate had trebled in the past second and suddenly his whole life depended on her answers.

"I did work for them but-"

"Who are your parents?" He could no longer contain the jealous rage that had been brewing in his stomach. He suddenly needed a drink but more than that, he needed to hear her answer.

"Kurt and Gavin but I really don't see why that should make any difference. I swear I am more than qu- probably _over_ qualified and -" Blaine couldn't focus. He wanted to cry, his throat constricted and his chest hurt. His heart was angry- furious- with him and it was making it known; after all it's like Henry Ward Beecher once said**: '**What the heart has once owned and had, it shall never lose.'

"Ok just, just go back to work and I-" he swallowed and looked at the young girl. She suddenly looked more beautiful than any girl he had ever seen in his life. Hadn't she said she was having family problems? Maybe her parents were breaking up, Blaine thought to himself hopefully but then he felt awful. "Do you know what? It's fine. Just ignore me; you can by a stylist if you want to be a stylist." Ruby didn't understand the sudden change in demeanour but she wasn't about to argue. She figured this guy was some sort of manager here and she didn't want to tread on his toes.

"err ok..thanks" she stood up awkwardly and make to leave

"Ruby?" she turned back round to face the …manager?

"I'm sorry." He apologised for coming back here, he apologised for still being in love with Kurt and he apologised for wanting to split her family up but mostly he was apologising for breaking her father's heart all those years ago.

"err..its ok" Ruby left feeling a little confused and returned to her client.

_A/N- if you want me to continue please review. Thankyou :) _


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